After The Moonrise
by Alexandra Condesso
Summary: AU: "In a city ruled by social status and appearances, will two souls destiny still prevail?"
1. Intro

**AN: Hello community of fanfiction, this is my first fanfic ever, so I hope you'l like it! Any reviews are most welcome! Enjoy!**

 **Disclamer: Skins UK doesn't belong to me (unfortunately), only my characters do.**

* * *

 **Intro:**

 _A summer's night breeze, the sky is a beautiful cloth of dark blue with nothing but the stars to light the view. It is that time of year again, the time where people will get out of their homes to the dances, opera houses and even carnivals all around town. People seem happier around this season, during the winter no one usually goes out, nevertheless at night- time. It seems that during that season you only see the men leaving early in the morning for work, saying goodbye to their wives, and some to their kids also. The majority of the wives stay home taking care of the house and their kids. Sometimes going out to do the groceries shopping, others to take the kids to school and then returning home at the very instant they finish said tasks. However, it is summer now, and everyone is out on the streets having fun, enjoying the beautiful night and the entertainments, or at least trying._

 _Among the vast amount of people we can find here, some catch more attention than others do. They are the Royals._

 _Who are the lovely creatures you might inquire? Well they are the most respected and desirable beings in our society. Some say it is because of their flawless skin and perfect genetics, but I believe it is mostly because of their wealth. At the end that is all that matters to their society. Being rich and successful, no mistakes or non-followers of the rules allowed. Although we do have some exceptions now and then, two of them standing right in the line to the Opera House._

 _We can see a blonde-haired girl who is said to be a party and careless girl and a petite brunet who they say is extremely intelligent and well behaved. They are cousins and best friends since birth, raised in the same house and under the same values, yet as different as day and night. However if you looked carefully enough, you could see that when they were together, just the two of them, there was nothing that could get between the bond they share. That, among the Royals, was rare, very rare._

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 **CHAPTER 1**

"Cassandra! You are so silly!" Said Emily hitting her cousin playfully on her shoulder.

"Ouch! That hurts you know. You seem to forget your own strength."

"You're right, but you also know that I am still learning, so I apologize if sometimes I do forget that I can hurt you." Emily said to her cousin with a smug smile.

"Ah! You wish! Don't you recall…" Cassie began to say but shut up the instant someone approached them.

"Ladies! Lovely evening today isn't it?" Said the man. "And may I add that you both look splendid!" He added with a smirk.

"Thank you?" Cassie said unsurely. After all, she had never seen this man around.

The man stood in front of them a bit longer than needed without saying a word, leaving the two of them quite uncomfortable.

"Excuse me, but are you from around town? I don't recall seeing you around here." Emily asked him a bit impatient.

"Why yes! I am from everywhere!" He answered her with a goofy grin.

Emily was starting to feel nervous, after all who was this person and what did he want with both of them? Luckily for her, Cassie decided to put an end to it.

"Look, lovely to meet you, but we really have to go. The performance will start in a few minutes, so if you will excuse us. Come on Emily!" Said Cassie grabbing Emily by her arm and leading her to the building entrance.

"It will be a pleasure to meet you again! Enjoy the opera!" The man shouted from behind them making them turn around to look at him, but when they did, he was nowhere in sight.

Emily looked at Cassie confused but she shrugged her shoulders and said to her, "Forget him; it was probably just another loony from the common folks. Come on! We are going to be late, and you know they are going to give us a lecture if we are not there in time!" She pleaded to Emily.

"Yes you are right! Let us go then." Emily answered her cousin and dragged her to the main entrance.

The opera house was one of the most elegant buildings in town, built around the Old Era and rearranged a few years ago. It had a tall arch as entrance; with pillars bathed in gold supporting it and the exterior walls were made of a pure white of marble without a single stain or scratch. The ceiling had a painting representing every past generation of the Royals, for they were the first founders of the city. The inner walls of the building were also in gold with huge windows that reached the ceiling decorated with drapes of a dark red velvet.

Some even believe it to be the soul of this town, in which the presence of the ancients could be felt.

"Ladies! Where do you think you are going in such a hurry? You are late!" A deep voice asked them.

Cassie stopped in her heels and whispered, "Shit! We were busted!"

Emily said to her, "Cassie! Language!"

"Sorry! He scared me." She apologized.

The man spoke once again, "Did you hear me young ladies? What is the reason for your delay?"

"I apologize father, but we had an inconvenience." Cassie answered her father without even a small stutter.

"And may I know what the _inconvenience_ was?" He insisted.

Emily began to spoke but Cassie cut her short immediately.

"It was nothing of importance, just a peasant asking for some change. Now father as we are already late to the opera performance, may we be excused to our seats?"

He stared at her daughter a bit unsure but eventually said, "Yes, go right ahead, I will join you in a minute."

Both girls nodded and proceeded to their seats on the state box, as usual the best places were only used by the Royals and on special occasions by their guests of honour. As they were late, the performance had already started and the majority of people were on their respective seats.

"Wow, it has been a long time since the theatre was so full of people, the performer tonight must be really good!" Emily said with her usual curiosity.

"I hope so, because the last one was as boring as watching a fresh painted wall dry." Cassie said with very little enthusiasm.

"Oh come on, you always say that! Can't you just enjoy the fact that it is finally summer and we can be out at night having fun?" Emily pleaded her cousin.

"That is exactly my point! It is summer and I have to be stuck here all night listening to some chubby old man yelling at the top of his lungs about a woman who stole his heart! I mean, at least change a bit of the story every now and then! Every year is the same boring old theme." She said to Emily exasperated.

Emily looked at her cousin and tried to reason with her, "He is not that bad Cassie, and besides, what are we supposed to do? You know the rules…"

Cassie lifted her tone of voice, "Rules, rules, always the damn rules! For years, we have been dealing with it! I am sick of having to be constantly obeying a society I do not agree with for pleasing people I do not give a damn about!"

"But I am part of that society too! When you despise these people you despise me as well!" Emily answered her cousin with a hurt expression on her face.

"Emsy…" Cassie said with a soft voice, "You know I don't mean that about you. You are one of the few that I care about inside this society. You mean more to me than my own blood relatives! That is why I want to show you what we are capable of doing if we do not follow the rules all the time! I want you to live to the fullest!" She finished with a bright smile and genuine smile.

Emily stared at her cousin thoughtfully for a while and said, "Ok. I suppose one little rule will not hurt… What do you suggest?"

Cassie grinned and said grabbing Emily's hand, "Let us get out of here."

They stood up from their seats, looked around to see if anyone was watching them and left off towards the main entrance.

"What now?" Emily asked worried, "Someone will see us here!"

"Now my friend, we run!" With that, Cassie dragged Emily running towards the backdoor and out onto the street.

"Oh god…" Emily said between breaths, "That was… Amazing!"

Cassie laughed at her softly, "I know. You should exercise more though; you look like you just ran the Excelsior marathons."

"Ah! Very funny. I am not used to running in the middle of a theatre to escape! You on the other hand seem to do it quite often…" Emily provoked, making Cassie scoff at her words and say, "As if it was new to you that I sometimes need to escape some places."

They both laughed at that but stopped when they heard voices near them, " _Over here! I think they went through that door!_ "

Cassie and Emily looked at one another with a knowingly look, "Run!"

After running for a while, they realized that the followers had lost track of them so now both girls were just walking silently in the chilly night.

"Spit it out." Cassie said breaking the silence that had settled since the running.

Emily looked at her surprised "What?"

"Come on Emily, I can see the gears working inside that pretty head of yours. What is it? Tell me." She insisted.

"I was just wondering how you can be so… Careless." Emily said a bit unsure, "I mean, we were raised in the same house, under the same values, and yet, you seem to not belong in the same world as me. Why is that? Why do you differ so much from me?" she finished with a worryingly expression in her eyes.

Cassie looked at her shocked for a while and then spoke, "Because I am myself."

"Pardon?" Emily asked confused.

"You find my way of being different because you are so used following the rules of the society we were raised in that you aren't even capable of answering for yourself. You have become simply a tool for them, a doormat that does nothing more than swallowing without even questioning everything they feed you. All the rules, all the ways you must behave, who you have to be. Only for the sake and wellbeing of the family, the so important Royals!" Cassie said angrily.

"And what am I supposed to do? They are my family, our family! Our society! If not us then who shall have the responsibility?" Emily asked starting to get angry herself.

"You are missing my point, you can still be a good member of the family without being unfaithful to whom you truly are and will become! My point is: allow yourself to live Emsy!" Cassie said more softly this time.

"How can you possibly know if I am not comfortable being like this?" Emily asked annoyed. Cassie smiled smugly, "Because I know you. We have been together for 17 years now. I see how you never speak what you really think, even though you are always bubbling inside with your opinions. Just a while ago, with our running, you said it yourself Emsy, that it was amazing! And you know why? Because you were allowing yourself to experiment! That's living Emily!"

"Maybe you are right..." Emily said still not very sure of it. "I guess I do tend to oppress myself." Cassie laughed a bit, "That is a way of putting it..."

"Hey I am trying ok?" Emily said playfully.

"I know you are honey, but we have just began. Let us go now or we will miss all the fun!" Cassandra said hurrying her friend. Emily asked her with a puzzled look, "Go where? At this hour of the night?"

"Exactly!" she grabbed Emily's hand, "Let's go!"

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 **AN: So first chapter is out! The following chapters are also available, so if you want to, you can already check them out! If you have any opinions regarding the story, just leave a review right below.**

 **Alex**


	2. Meet The Outsiders

**AN: Thank you for all the views and a special thank to KayEff for the feedback and support. This chapter will introduce new characters to the story. Hope you'll like it!**

 **Disclamer: Skins doesn't belong to me, only my characters do.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2**

A moment after they reached a location just outside of town, where supposedly Royals should not go unless they had higher business to attend.

Emily asked her cousin unsure, "Ahm, Cassie, where are we? I've never been here before…"

"Of course you haven't Ems, this is forbidden territory." She answered Emily calmly.

"What?! You brought me to forbidden territory? What were you thinking?" Emily asked angry.

Cassie took a deep breath and said, "Look, you said you were willing to try something different right? So here it is, a new club. Now come on, it's freezing cold outside."

"Something different yes! Not some outsiders' club! You know what they are going to do to us?" Emily yelled.

"Calm down Emily! Do you really think I would bring you to some dangerous place? I come here all the time; I know very well what these _outsiders_ will do to us." Cassie tried to reason with her cousin. When Emily just looked at her scared, she simply said, "Look, just come inside with me and you will see how nice it is. The mood is great and people are spectacular. Trust me."

"Ok, lead the way. But at the tiniest thing I dislike I'm out of here."

"Deal!" Cassie said giving her an assuring smile.

They entered through a silver metal door and once inside Cassie led Emily until they reached the bar.

"Cassie! How are you this glorious night little lady?" A young man, around his twenties with dark short hair and greyish eyes greeted her with a big smile.

"Hey Aldous! I'm good and you?" Cassie answered him smiling back.

"Wonderful as always! And who is this fine little bird you brought along with you?" Aldous asked gesturing to Emily.

"Oh this is Emily, my cousin!" Cassie said smiling, "She is new here so treat her right yeah?"

Aldous said mocking a hurtful look, "But of course! What kind of monster do you take me for?" He said laughing.

"The kindest of them all!" Cassie answered laughing along.

Emily cleared her throat to catch her cousin's attention. Cassie looked back at her and said to Aldous, "Aldous, can you bring us the usual please, we will be on the booth right around the corner, as always."

The young man nodded and got back to his work. Cassie led Emily to the booth. After they sat in front of one another Emily asked "So… Who is he? You seemed very friendly with each other."

"Ah that's Aldous; he is the bar tender here so he is used to dealing with all kinds of people every night. He has been nice to me since the first time I came here, always has been."

"Oh ok. Is he a… you know, outsider?" Emily asked lowering her voice.

"Depends, on what you consider an _outsider_." Cassie said lowering her voice as well in a mocking tone.

"You know! Someone who doesn't belong in our town, someone who is bad!" Emily insisted.

"I don't know about you Ems, but I think Aldous is a pretty wonderful person, I see almost no bad in him." Cassie said nonchalant.

"Almost?" Emily asked concerned.

"Yes Emily, he is a nice guy, but he also has his bad moments, like we all do, but that doesn't make him a bad person. It just makes him… Aldous." Cassie said a bit annoyed.

"I understand… Sorry, I did not mean to upset you nor offend him, let that be clear. I am just trying to understand all this… different ambient." Emily explained.

"I get that, it's ok don't worry. To be honest, when I first started coming here it was difficult for me too. To feel at ease, to fit in. However, I think it is important that you know that once the feeling of strangeness fades away, you cannot get enough of these people. You just can't." Cassie said smiling softly. "You will see." Emily smiled back at her.

She loved Cassie; the girl was everything to her. However, she often wondered how she could love someone so different from her. Was it good for her to love someone who almost did not fit on the parameters they were raised to believe in and follow through? Maybe she just had to trust her guts.

Emily was brought back to earth by Cassie's waving hand in front of her face, "Hey, Emsy, are you there?" She asked with a goofy smile.

"Hm? Ah yeah, just deep in thought that's all." She answered half smiling.

"Here you go ladies! Enjoy your drinks!" Said a young woman approaching them with a tray of beverages.

"Thanks Alana!" Cassie said smiling to her. The woman winked and smiled back.

Cassie started sipping her drink while Emily stared blankly at hers.

"You know, you can drink it Emily, it's not poisoned." She said mocking her.

"It's purple. And it has fume coming out of it." Emily motioned to it confused.

"Stating the obvious. Just try it, you'll like it!"

"Ok." Emily said unsure while raising her glass and taking a tiny sip. "Hum… It is good! Wow, it really is!" She continued admired and sipped a bit more quickly this time.

"Hey slow down, it's your first drink so go easy ok? Don't want you to get massively drunk on your first night out with me yeah?" Cassie warned.

"Pft, as if!" Emily said with a goofy laugh.

Cassie laughed along, "Ahah, it's nice to see you relaxed."

They both fell to a comfortable silence until Emily started speaking again, "This place is very well decorated. It has a good vibe." She proceeded observing her surroundings.

"I'm glad you like it!"

"Cassie! You came!" A boy with a huge grin on his face said approaching them and hugging Cassie.

"Tony! I've missed you!" She said hugging the boy back smiling. "Have a seat!"

He sat down next to Cassie and motioned to Emily, "Hey! You're new here aren't you?" He asked her curious.

"Yes!" She paused a bit to look at him better and added giggling, "You have funny eyebrows!"

Tony looked at Cassandra with a puzzled look on his face, "Well she is direct isn't she?"

Cassie answered smiling, "Don't mind Emily; she had a bit to drink."

"Ah ok, got it. Well Emily, I'm Tony, nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you as well, Tony with the funny eyebrows!"

Cassie laughed a bit hard this time at seeing Tony's expression, "She has a point, you do have funny eyebrows!"

"Yeah ok I get it!" He said a bit embarrassed. Cassandra sensed her friend's discomfort and changed the subject, "Where are the rest of the gang? Didn't they come with you?"

"I lost track of them in the crowd, they're probably around." He said looking at the dance floor behind him and at that instant raised his hand and two young girls started to come their way.

"Ah Tony there you are!" A girl with curly hair and bright eyes said, sitting on his lap and throwing her arms around his neck, "We thought we had lost you!". Cassie face lit up at seeing both of them and happily said, "Girls! It's so good to see you, sit with us!"

"Ah! I told you she would come tonight! You owe me five pounds!" the other girl with piercing blue eyes and light brown hair said smugly to Tony. "Fine, I'll buy you a drink then!" He answered a bit annoyed.

Cassie burst out laughing "Ahahah! I cannot believe you bet against your sister! You of all people should know that Effy always knows everything upfront!"

"My dear brother seems to forget my gift from time to time. Not my problem, it's his loss!" she added smiling and then turning to Emily said, "And you must be Emily…"

Emily gulped feeling nervous with the girl's piercing eyes who seemed to look right through her and said shortly, "Yes, I am…"

"Oh I'm so sorry; I forgot to introduce you! Emily, these are some of the wonderful people I told you about earlier: Tony's girlfriend Michelle and his sister Effy! Girls, this is Emily, my cousin and best friend!" Cassandra said full of pride.

"Welcome to the group Emily!" Michelle said smiling kindly while Effy just continued to stare with her smug expression.

"Hey, nice to meet you all!" Emily said smiling kindly.

"So, Cassie, are you ready for tonight?" Tony asked her friend with a grin.

"Oh yes! I can barely wait! I am so excited!"

"What is it about tonight?" Emily asked unsure.

"My dear friend, just the best night of your life! The best band in the place is about to go on stage!" Michelle said to Emily.

Suddenly, the music stopped and the lights on the club went out which caused some people to ask what was going on and others to whisper asking for silence. Emily felt a bit frightened with this sudden change of ambience, but when she looked at her new friends and saw them with huge grins on their faces, especially her cousin, she started to relax and even get a bit curious about what all the commotion was, and she herself was smiling along. After a while, a small stage in front of the dance floor illuminated and the sound of drums started slowly, and a small light was cast to a boy playing the drums. After came the sounds of a guitar and a bass, and another light was cast, this time to two other boys, facing each other with their instruments. Finally, a voice in a low tone said to the mic "Good night outcasts! We are the Monsters, and welcome to our world!", and the music started:

" _Another head hangs lowly,  
Child is slowly taken.  
And the violence caused such silence.  
Who are we mistaken?_

But you see, it's not me, it's not my family.  
In your head, in your head they are fighting,  
With their tanks and their bombs,  
And their bombs and their guns.  
In your head, in your head, they are crying...

In your head, in your head,  
Zombie, zombie, zombie,  
Hey, hey, hey. What's in your head,  
In your head,  
Zombie, zombie, zombie?

Another mother's breakin'  
Heart is taking over  
When the violence causes silence,  
We must be mistaken.

It's the same old theme since nineteen-sixteen.  
In your head, in your head they're still fighting,  
With their tanks and their bombs,  
And their bombs and their guns.  
In your head, in your head, they are dying...

 _In your head, in your head,  
Zombie, zombie, zombie,  
Hey, hey, hey. What's in your head,  
In your head,  
Zombie, zombie, zombie?"_

When they finished the crowd went wild, people were jumping and screaming, Cassie and the rest of the group were ecstatic and applauding, but Emily was different. Emily just stood there in dumb amazement, mesmerized by the beautiful creature where the voice came from. Yes creature, because no human being could have such a perfect voice, let alone such presence. Emily could not believe her eyes. She did not even realize when Cassie asked her if she was all right, all she could hear was the amazing singer saying her thanks to the crowd and go inside with the rest of the band.

"Who was she? The singer?" Emily asked Cassie.

"Ah that is Naomi, a friend of ours. Well, they all are." Cassie explained to her, "Why? Liked what you saw?"

"Yes! She is… I mean they are amazing!" She said amused.

"Well let's meet them shall we?" Tony said to Emily smiling.

The girls nodded in agreement and went with him through a door that led to a room backstage, where the band was now.

A cheerful boy with scruffy dirty blond hair came to Tony saying, "Ah my boy! There you are!" Giving him a bear hug.

"Hugh Cook, you are crushing me!" Tony said joking with him.

"I missed you too Tony!" The boy said laughing.

"Cook! It's been so long!" Cassandra said hugging him immediately.

"Oh Cassie I almost thought you were dead or something! Don't go disappearing for so long bird!" Cook said to her smiling kindly.

"I'm so sorry for worrying you, but it's been hard to come here… I'll explain it later! Now, I want you to meet someone." She then turned and gestured to Emily, "Cook this is my little cousin Emily. Emily, this is Cook, a big friend of mine." She said smiling.

"Oh wow it is a pleasure to meet you Emily, you look proper fine, with your bright red hair and everything!" he said to Emily smiling widely and extending his hand to greet her.

She blushed profusely while shaking his hand in return and said stuttering, "Thank you… Nice to meet you as well."

"Oh and she's cute too. Cassie shame on you for taking so long to introduce her to me." Cook said half-joking.

"To you and to us all I must say!" Tony intervened joking along with his friend.

"Oh well better late than never, as it is the old saying." Cassie said to her friends smiling.

"Hey what are you talking about over there guys?" A tall boy with dark black hair and greyish eyes approached them. "Oh we have a new girl in town have we?" he said turning to Emily and smiling "What's your name doll?"

"Emily…" She said half-whispering and embarrassed.

"Sorry? Couldn't hear you, you'll have to repeat it louder please." He said with a smug smile.

"Nathan, another one of your conquests? Leave the poor girl alone!" A girl said from behind him.

"Ah Naomi my beloved sister…" He said rolling his eyes and stepping aside.

A girl almost as tall as Nathan, with light blonde hair, almost white, and eyes of a piercing clear blue, so clear that Emily felt like she was looking directly at the sky and could not avoid staring at them.

The girl cleared her throat, "Ahm… Do you want to say something? You are staring." She said a bit annoyed.

Emily snapped out of her gaze and realizing she was staring could only say, "Oh no I'm sorry, I got distracted…"

Cook intervened, "Oh come on Naomi! Don't be so grumpy, we just met Emily and she seems like a fine gal!" He said smiling at his new friend.

"Oh ok sorry, I thought you were another one of my brother's bimbos! Nice to meet you then Emily, I'm Naomi." She said smiling to the red headed.

"Likewise Naomi." She said smiling back.

"So now that is settled, we will go for drinks yes?" Cook asked cheerfully.

"You bet we are mate! Cassie you are coming too right?" Tony asked turning to her friend.

"Hell yes! Only the Gods know how I've missing going out with you all."

Tony and Cook laughed along with her, called for the rest of the group and told them their plans. Once all had agreed to go, the two boys led the way.

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 **AN: The lyrics sang by character Naomi belong to the music ZOMBIE BY THE CRANBERRIES. Go check it out if you'd like to. Thank you for reading and for your reviews! I continue to insist, any more reviews will be most welcomed, as it is my first story, I'm a bit insecure about it, so I would love to hear your opinions on it! :)**


	3. Sticks, Stones and Fire

**AN: I know the story is going slow, but there will be more Naomily, trust me. And it starts in this chapter. Enjoy!**

 **Disclamer: Skins UK doesn't belong to me (unfortunately), only my characters do.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3**

It was now a bit late in the night, and a cold and moist air replaced the soft breeze of the evening. The group reached their destiny, a quiet place high on the forest where you could see the whole city in front, sleeping, with only the main buildings lit up and some of the street lamps still on. It was common for some lamps to be on, as a way of assuring security.

They sat down on some boulders that were below a couple of trees, Effy, Michelle and Naomi sat together, with Cook, Tony and Nathan in front of them, while Cassie and Emily sat on another boulder between them.

"This place is beautiful… The whole city from here just seems so big!" Emily said mesmerized.

"I knew you would like it honey! It is indeed beautiful." Cassie said to her friend smiling.

"Hey Cassie, you and Emily want a drink as well?" Tony asked both girls and they nodded in agreement.

"Nathan will you help me light a small fire here mate? It's a bit chilly tonight." Cook said to his friend.

"Sure thing, but we'll probably need more sticks… Hey Naomi could you go get some sticks around here?" Nathan said to his sister.

"Do I have to? Why won't you go get them yourself?" She said a bit annoyed.

"I can go if you need me to." Emily intervened.

Cassie turned to her cousin worried, "Ems you don't even know your way around here. I don't think it's a good idea…"

"I don't mind, really. I'm sure it's close, it's not like I'm going to go too far." Emily insisted.

Naomi looked at her uncertain but ended up saying, "Fine then, you can go, but I'm going with you. I don't want you to get lost because of me."

"Ok then, go on both of you. We already spent too much time with this chit chat." Nathan hurried them.

Naomi turned to Emily, "We better go Emily, before my jerk of a brother here loses his patience." She said with a hint of sarcasm and shooting Nathan a fake smile.

Both girls got up and went through a trail between some trees. After a while of walking alongside one another, Emily began to speak, "Are you two always like that?"

"What do you mean?" Naomi asked without looking at her.

"I don't know, bickering with each other… At the bar and just now."

Naomi stopped on her tracks and looked coldly at Emily, before answering, "I don't think it's any of your damn business."

Emily answered with regret, "I'm sorry… I did not mean to pry. I just wondered why that's all."

This time Naomi's expression softened and she asked, "Why would you care? You don't even know me."

Emily thought for a moment before answering, "I just… I just care that's all. It's what I do, caring about people, I guess…" She said now averting her eyes from Naomi's.

Silence fell for a bit between the two of them, and they could only hear the night's sound. The cicadas that are around every summer, their friends laughing and talking in the distance, the gentle blowing of the wind. Finally, Naomi sighed deeply and said, "We haven't always been like this, me and Nathan. When we were kids, we were inseparable, like conjoined twins to the hip. But, I don't know, people grow apart I guess…" she said with sadness.

Emily smiled kindly at her, "I think I can understand. Although I am an only child, my relationship with my father is a bit like that… As a kid I relied on him for everything, I worshiped him as if he had no flaws at all. But as I grew up, I started seeing things differently, and we started growing apart every day."

"I see… I am sorry it is like that now. And I'm sorry for being rude earlier." Naomi said sincerely and ashamed.

"I understand, it's not easy to talk about personal things, even more with a stranger like me, but it is okay. I should have mind my business like you said." Emily said looking at her smiling.

"Well to tell you the truth it's actually nice that you care. I find it to be so rare around here." She said smiling back, "But, now that that is settled, we should really get going so we can return to the gang."

Emily laughed agreeing with Naomi, and they proceeded their way.

After a while, they returned to their friends with enough sticks to light the fire.

"Here you have boys! There's plenty of wood to light a whole city." Naomi said joking, making Emily laugh.

"Finally! What took you so long? We were starting to get worried." Cassie said.

"You mean you were, right Cassie? I tell you, this one was ready to call the searches on you." Cook said mocking her.

"Is that true? We are fine, sorry we took so long Cassie." Emily apologized to her cousin, feeling guilty.

"I'm sorry Cassie, but we lost track of time. It turns out me and Emily actually get along quite well." Naomi said smiling.

"Oh ok, that makes me more relieved." Cassie smiled back at them.

Both girls went to the place where the boys were starting to light the fire and put down all the wood they found.

"Thank you lovely ladies! Now to start warming up this place!" Cook said cheerfully while grabbing a few sticks and a small rock to light a flame with the help of Tony and Nathan.

Once the fire was lit, the group of friends spent the rest of the night talking and laughing about the adventures they had through the week, keeping Cassie and Emily amused by all the awkward and interesting situations that had been going on. Along the conversation, Emily could not help casting a few glances now and then to Naomi, smiling when she looked back. She also could not stop thinking that these people she had just met had something special. Somehow, they made her feel alive, as if a fire was starting to burn inside her. In any other occasion, this fire would have scared her and she would had wanted to run away from it. However, this time the fire was different, because for this fire, she would gladly burn.

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 **AN: I hope you liked it! Once again, I'll appreciate any reviews, I really value your opinions as readers!**


	4. A Royal Family

**AN: Thank you once again for all the feedback, and I hope there will be much more. In this chapter Emily starts to realize some things towards the blonde. Enjoy!**

 **Disclamer: Skins UK doesn't belong to me (unfortunately), only my characters do.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 4**

The next morning Emily lay in bed, while the early morning sun entered through the window, bathing her room with tones of a faded yellow. She liked this time of the day, the time when from outside you could hear the few birds starting to sing near her window. Sometimes, if she was lucky, a bird would lie on the windowpane, and she would stare at it for a bit of time, almost as if the bird could see into her, allowing her to communicate with it.

However, as good moments do not last forever, she is interrupted by a knock on the door and a voice saying: "Miss Emily! It is time for breakfast! Will you come down to the dining table, if you please?"

Emily awake from her trance and answered hurriedly: "I will be down in a few minutes; I just have to wash my face and dress up! Tell father they can start to eat without me if they want to."

"I will miss, but please try to not take too long; you know how your father gets, always moody in the morning."

"Ok I will try!" Emily said getting up from her bed and making her way to the bathroom. As she entered, she turned on the hot water tap of her bathtub, and grabbed a towel to clean herself after her bath. While she lay in the warm and bubbly water that surrounded her, she let herself relax and immerse in her thoughts. Thoughts that were quite pleasant, about a certain blonde girl. Although she liked the feeling, she could not help but wonder why she was having those thoughts. She had just met Naomi; they had only talked more openly with each other the night before, so Emily could not figure why she was thinking so much about the girl. After all, she met many other friends of Cassandra, and yet, she was not thinking like this about any of them. It was strange to her, to be thinking about another person so early in the morning other than her family. Eventually, she snapped back to reality as soon as she noted the water getting cold, and got up to dry herself and get dressed.

Once she was done, she went downstairs to join her family at breakfast.

"Emily you are late. We were all waiting for you." Her father said with a stern look.

Emily gulped and said lowering her head, "I apologize father, I got distracted."

Her father nodded and gestured for her to sit at the table. She sat next to her mother and in front of Cassandra. Every day it was the same ritual at meals. Everyone had exactly the same seats at the table. Her father on the end of the table and Cassandra's father on the other end. Her mother in front of Cassie's mother, and she and her cousin in front of each other, side by side with their mothers.

It has been this way ever since she can remember. Emily actually liked it, to have the whole family together, sharing their meals, sometimes talking. Exactly the opposite of her cousin, who despised these family gatherings, even so in the early morning. She was always with an expression of extreme boredom, which would curiously instantly change the minute Emily started talking with her. Her beautiful smile would magically appear and her eyes would shine with such adoration for her little cousin that the people around them at the table did not seem to exist at all. In addition, Emily felt it too. The love and admiration for her cousin was so big that it made her feel warm and whole every time they were together. Even if they only exchanged smiles, sometimes it was enough for not felling so out of place.

"What are you girls smiling about?" Their family had asked them many times since they were little kids. Both girls would just smile even more, because only they knew, what it was like to love other member of the family as profusely as they did. You see, the Royals were the most admired and respected family of the city, more often because of their wealth, but also because people believed that they were a true family, who respected each other and treated each other equally, and of course loved one another unconditionally.

What the common people did not know was that this family was just like any other, except for their fortune and social statute. If you took that to the side, you would see all the flaws, all the failures, all the defeats throughout the years. The majority of the Royals did not care for family; they cared for their own fortune. They cared about getting a perfect successor to their reign so they could maintain the name and statute of their legacy.

Emily and Cassie were raised a bit protected from the intentions of their fathers, having her mothers and maids do everything in their power so their little girls would not have to grow up having the same kind of mentality. Through many years, they had made it, but now that the girls were reaching majority, they were getting closer to the reality that surrounded them. In fact, Cassie already began suspecting and wondering about many things, but she had decided not to say anything to her little cousin, because she knew, deep down, that it would break Emily's heart, and she wanted nothing more than to protect the most important person in her life.

"Cassie how are you classes going? Are you still having trouble controlling your telekinesis?" Her father asked.

"It's actually getting easier. Every now and then I get a little enthusiastic and lose control, but other than that it's good." She answered him.

"It's good to know. Your grandfather was the best telekinetic know by history. It would be a disappointment if you didn't succeed in that area…"

"Yes I know father! You have told me many times before." Cassie said trying to end the subject.

Silence fell between them for a while, until Emily's father started to speak, "Emily, as the subject of classes was brought to the table and seeing that you are almost turning eighteen, it should be time you started developing your talents." He paused for a moment waiting for her response.

Emily looked down to her plate and started playing with her food while answering, "Well… I actually started developing something, but I don't know what it is yet."

Her father looked surprised and curious, "Oh is that so? Can you explain us what you've been nothing differently?"

This time she looked up and saw that her cousin was smiling kindly at her to encourage her. She then turned to her father and answered him, "I've been feeling stronger, physically. Other than that I don't recall anything more."

"Hm… You know how important it is to perfect at least one talent, therefore I hope that in the next few months you'll have more to show me than increased strength. Our family expects more of you, and you too Cassandra. Both of you girls are our successors, you can't let us down."

Both Cassie and Emily nodded in agreement. They knew that it was no good to go against his will.

After they finished their meal, they both got excused from the table and went outside to the garden. They walked in silence for a moment, until they reached the garden fountain and sat there looking to the water.

"It is a beautiful day today isn't it Emsy?" Cassie said looking at the clear and light blue sky.

Emily hummed in agreement without looking at her cousin.

Cassie looked at her and said with a hint of worry, "You are a bit quiet today, more than usual. What's the matter?"

Emily raised her head to look at her cousin and said, "I wasn't being totally honest back there…"

"What do you mean? At the table?" Cassie questioned confused.

"Yes. When I was telling my father about having developed my talents…" She answered a bit afraid.

Her cousin grabbed her hand looking at her smiling and said, "Emily it's alright, you can tell me anything."

She smiled at Cassie and said, "I know that. It's just that I don't even know how to explain it. It has been happening for a few months now, usually in the morning." She paused for a moment. "There is this bird, it usually sits by my window, and sometimes it's as if I can read him, and he can read me."

Her cousin stared at her with a blank expression, unsure of what to say. Eventually Emily said to her, "I know it's strange, maybe I'm just imagining things…"

"No, no! I was just thinking… I guess you've found your talent." She said calmly.

"What do you mean?!"

Cassie thought for a second before answering, "Well, I remember reading in the old books at the library that one of the talents of our family passed by on generation to generation was indeed mind reading. Especially in women! Therefore it makes perfect sense to me what you just told me."

Emily looked surprised, "Wow… I can't believe I finally found it!" She said excitedly.

"It sure looks like it honey!" She said to her cousin.

Emily was grinning like a little child in front of a toy store, but her smile soon faded as she remembered something. "I should probably tell my father about it… It's not right to keep it a secret from him."

Cassie sighed, "Do you want to tell him?"

Emily thought for a moment, "Not really. He's going to start demanding that I take more classes and train more. If it's hard to leave the house now, imagine when he finds out that I'm starting to develop my talent."

"It's simple, don't tell him. He doesn't need to know right away, what harm could it do?"

"Hm… I guess you are right. I won't tell him then, for now at least."

Both girls smiled to each other and got up from the fountain, continuing to walk in the garden. They eventually reached a spot that had a huge oak tree; it was the biggest one in the garden, therefore the one who had the biggest shadow when the sun was up high. It was the girl's favourite place to be just the two of them.

They lay down there and Cassie began to speak, "I spoke with Tony yesterday, and he asked if we wanted to go out again with them today. They were thinking about doing some sort of a picnic, near a lake. He said it has a beautiful view."

"Oh, it sounds nice. You should go." Emily said looking at the sky.

Cassie stood silent for a few seconds before answering, "Ems, I think you are a very intelligent girl, but sometimes I swear you can be very daft!" She ended laughing.

Emily looked at her confused, "What do you mean?!"

"Tony invited us! Not just me! So if I'm going, you're going with me!"

"Oh! Sorry, I just didn't think he was including me…" She answered feeling a bit silly.

"Of course he was including you! He loved meeting you. He thinks you are a bit shy, but he said that he can tell you are a cool person. So he wants to get to know you more, they all do actually." Cassie finished smiling.

"Really? Wow, it was nice of him to say that! Ok I'll go out with you, I actually have to admit that I liked all of them too. They seem like nice and fun people to hang out with." She smiled back at her cousin.

"They sure are! They've been really good friends to me, you won't find better people than them."

"If you say so, I believe you." Emily paused for a moment, "I just wonder, why didn't you tell me about them early?"

"I didn't think you would approve. I was afraid you would judge me for hanging out with people outside the family and outside our city. Which initially you did, but I understand now that you were just afraid of the things you don't know."

"I'm sorry I have made you feel that way. I really didn't mean to." She pondered what to say next, "And you are right, I was scared, still am. It's all new to me, being with different people, in different places. But I feel that as long as you are with me, I can defeat these fears!"

"I know Emsy, I'll always be by your side, so you don't have to worry about it. I believe that sooner than you think it will be a piece of cake doing new and different things to you!"

Emily turned to her cousin and hugged her close, "Thank you so much for believing in me Cassie! I love you, and I want you to know that you can tell me everything from now on, alright?"

Cassie giggled and kissed Emily's head, "Alright sweetie, I will!"

* * *

It was now 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and the girls were getting ready for the picnic. Since it was a weekend, their fathers hadn't opposed about them going out. Of course, they didn't know whom the girls were meeting, but it was for the better.

"Cassie have you packed the sandwiches in the basket?" Emily asked while they were in the kitchen.

"Yes! Do you have the refreshments there?" She said turning around to look at her cousin who was by the fridge.

"Yeah. Do you rather have orange juice or apple juice?"

"Just bring both, since it's the only thing we'll be drinking." Cassie said rolling her eyes.

"I think it makes sense, after all the picnic it's at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. A bit too early to be drinking the heavy stuff don't you think?" Emily said mocking her.

"Yeah I guess you're right."

Emily finished putting the beverages in the basket and said, "Well, I'm finished! Shall we go?"

"Wow! Look at you! Why the hurry? Is it someone there you can't wait to see?" Cassie asked in a provoking tone.

Emily felt her face getting hot and red, "No! I just don't want to be late. You know how I like to get to appointments in time!"

"Yeah sure, that's what that blushing means, "a need to get there in time"."

"Can we just go?" Emily asked trying to change the subject.

Cassie walked to the front door holding the picnic basket and said, "We're already going. Hurry up or you might me late…"

* * *

 **AN: Curious about the next chapter? I hope so, if you have anything to say about this one, just go right ahead and leave a review. As always, thank you for reading ;)**


	5. A Gentleman and Her Rose

**AN: I'm so sorry I took so long to post a new chapter. I had a massive case of writer's block combined with a lot of lazyness. I hope you're still with me, in this chapter I tried to finally bring Naomi and Emily a bit more together. So, heads up, specially cute NAOMILY moment, but not yet with smut. With that being said, enjoy the chapter ;)**

 **Disclamer: Skins UK doesn't belong to me (unfortunately), only my characters do.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 5**

After both girls left the house, Emily followed Cassie into the small shed situated in the back garden to get their bikes. Each girl grabbed their own bike and went out into the road. They rode by an old trail that was next to a field with different trees with a variety of fruits. They loved the view; they had walked there hundreds of times now, since they were little kids. After the field with trees, there was a river with a bridge in between. While passing through the bridge Emily couldn't help smiling mesmerized with her surroundings. Cassie looked at her and smiled back, happy to see her cousin enjoying herself. A few minutes later she turned to Emily and said, "Ems the place we'll be having the picnic is right over there. We should stop here."

Emily nodded in agreement and followed right behind her cousin, as she stopped her bike next to a tree that was next to a straight way leading to the lake. "This is beautiful Cassie! I'd never guess we had this place so close to home." Emily said admired.

"Yeah I know, it is indeed beautiful! I love it so much." Cassie said smiling.

"Cassie! There you are!" A voice shouted not too far from them.

"Cookie! Hey!" She said approaching the boy to give him a hug.

He hugged her back and said laughing, "Ah! You do love my bear hugs!"

Emily stand there watching them a bit shy, but as soon as Cook noticed her, he said, "Emily girl! You too, come give a hug to the Cookie Monster!" Opening his arms.

She hugged him back, a bit reluctant at first, but eventually let herself go and immerse in his embrace. "I like it!" She thought to herself, smiling.

"Cookie, you are smothering the poor girl, give her some space." A girl said laughing behind Cook.

Emily gulped after seeing that it was Naomi. "She is beautiful with her hair tied back together; I can really see her amazing blue eyes…"

"Hey Emily! Are you all right? You look a little off…" She asked her with concern.

"Oh yes! I'm fine thanks! Just spaced out a bit!" Emily said trying to shut down her thoughts about the blonde-haired girl. Those kind of thoughts were strange to her.

"Well then let's go meet the others! Cassie is already with them." He said to both girls.

"Oh Emily! Effy was just telling me that Tony and Michelle are not coming!" Cassie said as she saw both girls and Cook coming towards her.

"Oh… Why?" Emily asked a bit worried.

Cook turned to her and said, "Oh don't worry little bird, he and Michelle just had other fun things to do."

Emily nodded to him, "Well I guess I'll see them another time then!"

"Wow Emsy! Look at you! Already thinking about a next time! I like what I'm hearing!" Cassie said to her.

Emily smiled shyly to them. "Well then, shall we sit with Effy then?" Cook asked looking at the girls.

"Sure! It looks like you're going to have some trouble today, seeing you're the only man here today." Naomi said jokingly.

Cook laughed loudly at that and said, "Naomi dear, you've never seen me complaining for having so many beautiful girls all to myself!"

Naomi lightly punched him the shoulder, laughing along, "You wish!"

After they were all seated in front of the lake, Cassie and Emily put down the towel and picnic baskets they had brought.

"Wow! You made all this? You are amazing!" Cook said excited.

"It wasn't that much trouble. It's just some sandwiches…" Emily said.

"Nonsense! They look really yummy and I bet they taste good!" Naomi said to Emily.

"It does look good girls, thank you!" Effy said to them smiling.

"Well then, dig in!" Both girls said to their friends.

As they were eating, the friends kept talking between bites, telling jokes and enjoying themselves together. The weather was a perfect clear and blue sky with the sunrays warming them up. After they finished eating, they laid down looking to the beautiful view in front of them. Cook ended up nodding off along with Cassie, and Effy had gone for a smoke, leaving only Emily and Naomi left awake.

Emily giggled turning to Naomi, "I can't believe they fell asleep!"

Naomi laughed along and said, "Oh those two always do that after a good meal, especially if it has a few special beverages involved." And winked at Emily.´

"Yeah, we probably shouldn't have brought so much wine."

Both girls laughed a bit loudly, "Shh, we must keep quiet. Trust me, you don't want to wake up Cook. He turns into a moody bloke if we do that."

Emily nodded and eventually they stopped with the giggles. Naomi turned her eyes again to the view in front of them, but somehow Emily found herself more interested in the view by her side. She couldn't help but cast a few glances to the blonde now and then. She liked how her nose, although long, fitted perfectly into her beautiful face. How she would bite her plump and rosy lips, while she was interested in what was in front of her. And her eyes, Emily couldn't help but stare in wonder at them, the two orbs of an azure so pure like clear water, where she would gladly swim. But she was taken back to reality as soon Naomi noticed her stare.

"Hum… Emily, you are staring…" Naomi said feeling awkward.

"Oh I'm so sorry, I was distracted!" Emily said trying to find an explanation.

Naomi laughed a bit embarrassed, "You can tell me. Is there something on my face?"

" _No, you are perfect"_ Emily thought to herself, but she quickly answered the girl, "No, your face is fine! Really! I was just thinking. Don't worry!" She ended up saying, trying to shut up the voice in her head.

Naomi raised her eyebrows at her and with a smirk said to the girl, "Oh so my face is "fine". Well that's a way of putting it!"

"No! That's not… You're beautiful, not just fine!" Emily answered her, immediately feeling her cheeks turning bright red after realizing what she had just said.

The blonde started laughing, "Well will you look at that, you face just turned the colour of your hair!" She said pointing at Emily's face.

"Shut up… Didn't you say we should keep quiet?" Emily said trying to change the subject.

Naomi looked at her and smiled, "You're right. Let's take a walk then, so we can talk more."

"Oh… Ok." Emily said a bit unsure and got up following the tall blonde.

The two girls went through another path where there were flowers of every kind and colour. Emily couldn't keep herself from looking around at every step she took. Meanwhile Naomi's attention was on the petit red headed; she was quite amused with the look of wonder and happiness on Emily's face. Her eyes shining bright reminded her those of a child looking at a toy store. _"She has such a cute face",_ Naomi thought to herself, but immediately cleared her throat to get Emily's attention.

"So Emily, like what you see?" She asked smiling.

The red headed turned her attention to the bright blue eyes staring at her, "Ah, yes! It's mesmerizing!" Emily answered smiling back.

"Indeed. I used to come here all the time with my brother and my mother when we were little." Naomi told her with a small smile, turning her gaze to the ground.

Emily thought for a while if she should ask her more about that, but eventually she decided to, "Oh you don't come here anymore?"

Naomi continued to look at the ground and answered her, "Not really. Eventually there came a time where it was just my mother and I coming here. She was the best person I had. My brother and I grew apart more and more every day, and my relationship with my father was never in the best terms."

"I'm sorry to hear that…" Emily said and touched her shoulder.

"It's ok. It was a long time ago anyway…" Naomi answered trying to brush it off.

They continued to walk after that, and when they reached a spot with a bench, they sat there together.

"You know Naomi; this is a very beautiful place. I'm glad you took me here, thank you!" Emily turned to her smiling kindly.

"I don't know why, but I had the impression that you would like it."

Emily laughed, "What? Like intuition?"

"Call it all you want honey, but I did have a feeling, and apparently I was right." Naomi smiled at her smugly.

Emily raised her eyebrows and replied, "Just good luck I guess…"

Both girls started laughing together and after the laughter subsided, they just stood there looking at each other.

" _God her laugh is sexy as hell, with that raspy voice of hers"_ , Naomi thought.

Emily eventually diverted her gaze to the flowers in front of them, bright red roses, lots of them, just the way she loved them.

Naomi followed her gaze and smiled, "You like them?"

"I do, very much. They're actually my favourite kind of flowers." Emily answered.

"Oh that's right! Naomi I almost forgot to tell you!" Emily turned to the blonde.

"What is it?" Naomi asked curious and also a bit nervous, although she didn't quite knew why yet.

"I wanted to tell you the other night, but I guess I didn't have the courage…" Emily tried to justify herself.

"It's ok, you can tell me now. Something the matter?"

"No, no! I just wanted to say that I really liked your concert; your voice is amazing!" Naomi laughed at her.

"Hey I'm serious! I loved your voice; you got me fixated on you through all the song." Emily confessed embarrassed.

"Well that is very nice to hear from you Emily! Thank you!" Naomi said getting up and walking to the roses.

Emily looked at her confused and asked her, "What are you doing?"

Naomi lingered down to pluck one of the roses, quickly standing up again and walking to Emily.

She extended the rose to the red headed and said with a serious tone, "This my lady, is a rose, for my number one fan!"

Emily looked at her with her eyes wide open, "You can't be serious."

Naomi started to laugh, "Come on Emily, I'm being a gentleman here. Just accept my rose, or do you want to break my heart?" She said in a mocking tone putting her hand to her chest.

Emily erupted with laughter, "I'm sorry! Yes my kind and handsome gentleman, I accept your gift! Thank you!" She said taking the rose in her hands and grinning at Naomi.

Naomi smiled back and sat down again next to her, both girls in silence just enjoying the landscape.

A few minutes passed and Emily spoke again, playing with the rose in her hands, "You know I have to confess, this is the first time someone gave me a flower."

The blonde looked at her admired, "Seriously? I'd never guess, a girl as beautiful as you."

Emily smiled shyly and said, "It's true. No one ever notices me like that, well… No one ever notices me at all." She laughed bitterly.

Naomi put a hand on the girl's shoulder, "Emily, look at me." The petit girl looked at her with sad eyes and Naomi said, "You are beautiful ok? Believe me! You caught my attention from the moment I set my eyes on you."

Emily gave her a small smile and Naomi talked again, "Hell I sounded like a creep just now."

This time Emily laughed a bit, "I'm serious, it sounded much better in my head! But anyway, I'm still right. You are beautiful." Naomi smiled kindly at her.

"Thank you Naomi, for making me feel better." Emily said putting her hand on Naomi's.

"Don't mention it." Naomi smiled happily, liking the warmth of the petit girl's hand.

Although both girls just had met each other for a few days, they already felt a connection. A connection that was different from the ones they have ever felt before.

* * *

 **AN: I know I'm going slow with the story, and that's why I want your opinions, because I need to know if you think I should advance a bit faster with the story, or if it's going at a normal rythm. Leave me all the opinions you can. Meanwhile I already started writing the next chapter and hopefully I will post it by the end of the week or in the beginning of next week. Thank you for reading!**


	6. Surprise at School

**AN: As promissed here it is chapter 6. I have to confess, I would never thought I would finish it so early and quickly as I did. But the words and ideas just kept coming out of me. This chapter has a particularity, it's the first one where i write from a characters POV, so I hope I did well. Above all, I had fun doing it, and I hope that you also have fun reading it! Once again, I would like your reviews, they're the only way for me to know if I'm doing good or bad writing this story. Without further delays, enjoy!**

 **Disclamer: As usual, Skins still doesn't belong to me.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 6**

After enjoying the company of each other a bit more, Naomi and Emily returned to their friends, only to find they were not there anymore.

"You sure took your time walking." Effy said with a smug smile appearing from behind a tree.

"Yeah we just couldn't resist stopping for a while to look at the flowers." Naomi said nonchalant, asking right after, "Where the others anyway?"

"You took so long they went ahead to the lake for a swim." Effy pointed to the water.

"But they didn't have swimming clothes with them, did they?" Emily asked confused.

Effy and Naomi smiled to one another, with Naomi saying to Emily, "Ems, they don't need any swimming clothes, they just get in with whatever they have on."

"Or with no clothes at all, like it happens most of the times." Effy added.

"Oh, I see." Emily paused for a moment, "Are you two going to get in too?"

"Nah… I'm not up for that today." Naomi said, turning to Effy, "What about you Eff?"

"Maybe later."

"Later? It's going to be freezing by then." Emily said concerned.

"Relax; it's not a problem for me." Effy soothed her.

Emily decided she shouldn't insist more, it was not her place to.

"Do you want to go Emily?" Naomi asked her.

"Oh no! I can't, I haven't brought any clothes with me and I sure won't enter only in my bra and knickers."

"Who says you have to get in in your bra and knickers?" Naomi teased.

"Well how am I suppos…" Emily looked at her shocked as soon as she realized what Naomi meant, "Are you really suggesting that I go in without any clothes?!"

Naomi smiled wickedly saying, "Well if you insist, be my guest!" And burst into laughter.

Emily punched her lightly on the arm and called her a pervert.

"Wow, you have quite a punch! Almost left me bruised."

"Shut up!" The read headed said smiling at the blonde.

"Cute." They heard, suddenly noticing Effy staring at them smiling. Emily looked away embarrassed and Naomi cleared her throat.

Right after that, they heard Cook and Cassie got out of the water and coming to meet them.

"Lovely birdies, the water was fantastic!" Cook said enthusiastically and shaking the water of his hair.

"Cook! Watch out, you're getting us wet!" Naomi warned him.

"And would that be a bad thing? Getting three fine ladies like you all wet?" He said wiggling his eyebrows and showing his childish grin.

"Fuck's sake Cook." Naomi said slapping him in the shoulder. _"And you say I'm the pervert!"_ She said whispering to Emily, which earned her a laugh from the petit girl.

" _Gosh such a beautiful smile"_ Naomi thought to herself.

Cassie went to sit next to her cousin and linked her arm to hers, "Emsy you would love the water, it was so good. Promise you will go swimming with me next time!" She pleaded with puppy eyes.

"Ahah, how could I say no to those eyes of yours?" Emily smiled, resting her head on Cassie's shoulder.

The friends stood there until a bright full moon was up high in the night sky, and all through that time, Naomi couldn't help but cast a few glances now and then to Emily and Cassie, envying the proximity they had with one another. However, she decided to focus just on the beauty in front of her, with her perfect cute and little button nose. Those brown orbs of chocolate that reflected the beauty of the moonlight and her cute rose lips that curved into the most beautiful smile. For some reason, yet unknown to her, she wanted to know everything about Emily. What she already knew about that feeling was that she would have to work hard to get to that point. Moreover, for the first time, she was willing to make such effort.

* * *

After a few hours the picnic was over and the group of friends decided it was time to go home. Cook offered to take Cassie and Emily home, since he already was giving a ride to Naomi and Effy.

"Nah Cookie, there's no need to. Emily and I brought our bikes. Thanks anyway." Cassie said leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek, making him blush.

"Wow, James Cook blushing? I guess there's a first time for everything." Naomi said smiling amused.

"Shut up!" Cook said embarrassed, making the others laugh.

"Cassie maybe we should get going, you know that it will be bad if we arrive too late." Emily asked her.

"Yeah you're right. Let's go then."

Cook, Naomi and Effy accompanied the two girls to their bikes. When they went to say their goodbyes, Naomi got closer to Emily and whispered, _"Are you sure you don't want a ride?"_

" _Don't worry. As long as I'm with Cassie I'm good."_ Emily whispered back trying to reassure the blonde.

" _Ok then. Have a good night."_ She said kissing her goodbye on the cheek, leaving Emily speechless and blushing.

Naomi then turned to Cassie, "Well have a safe trip ladies, call me when you get back alright?"

"Don't worry, I will." She said hugging the girl and the rest of her friends goodbye.

Half an hour passed and the two cousins finally got home. They left their bikes in the shed and went to the house.

" _Cassie!"_ Emily whispered, _"How are we supposed to get in this late without being caught?"_

" _Just follow me!"_ Cassie said going to the kitchen backdoor and stopping next to it to peek inside.

" _I think the coast is clear!"_

Emily started giggling, earning a disapproving look from Cassie.

" _I'm sorry! It's just that we look like we are burglars trying to rob the house."_

" _Yes very funny, but it won't be so funny if we're caught. So shush you're pretty mouth."_

Emily raised her hands in surrender smiling.

" _Ok let's go now!"_ Cassie said grabbing Emily's hand and dragging her through the kitchen and into the stairs leading to their rooms.

"I can't believe we did it! We should do it more often." The read headed said.

"You're really getting hooked to these sneaking outs."

Emily just shrugged her shoulders, "Well we should go to sleep now, we have classes early in the morning."

"Oh that's right, I have forgotten." Cassie said rolling her eyes in desperation.

Emily gave her a know it all look, "You're going to skip it aren't you?"

"We'll see." Her cousin said shrugging her shoulders.

"Ok, good night then."

"Good night, sleep tight."

And with that the two girls each went to their rooms, for a well-rested sleep.

* * *

 **THE NEXT MORNING**

 **EMILY'S POV:**

I hear my alarm ring going off and have a sudden urge to hit the damn thing. Opening my eyes, I see the bright numbers marking the hour. _"Seven-thirty"_ , it says. God it's still too early! I turn to the other side covering myself with the duvet, when suddenly I hear a knock on the door.

"Miss Emily, it's time for breakfast!" my favourite maid says.

"I might be a bit late for that today! I think I'll just eat when I get to school!" I say trying to avoid the boredom that is the family breakfast.

"Oh but your father won't like that, you know how he gets!"

"Yeah well, he doesn't like it when I'm late for school either, so it's better this way." I say to her while getting the clothes out of my closet and making my way to the bathroom.

"You've got a point there miss. I'll let him know that you won't be present then!" She said leaving me to get ready.

After taking a refreshing shower I opt for a pair of jeans, a red blouse and black sneakers, grabbing my backpack on the way to the car.

"Good morning Alfred!" I say to the driver while getting in the car.

"Good morning Miss Emily! Fine weather today isn't it?"

I smile at him, "Yes it is! Such a shame I have to be stuck in class all day long…"

He smiles back at me, "I agree with you, you youngsters should be enjoying this time while it lasts." He pauses for a while, "Don't tell your dad I said that, he would kill me."

I laugh at him, "Don't worry, this stays just between us."

A few more minutes pass and we arrive at school. I say my goodbyes to Alfred and make my way to the entrance leading to the corridors searching for my locker. Once I'm there I leave some of my books and look at my schedule for the day.

Let's see… Maths first thing in the morning, ugh seriously? Dealing with problems after I just woke up? What's next? Oh English! That's more like it! After that… Ah lunch! Wonderful! And then in the afternoon… Biology! That's a good one too! Well today isn't going to be so bad after all and no special powers class either! Thank god… Really not in the mood for those!

I'm interrupted from my thoughts when I feel a light tap on my shoulder. "Hey Emily! Looking lovely today!" A boy with curly hair and a goofy smile says.

"Hey JJ! I was distracted looking through my schedule. How are you?"

"I'm good! See, I already memorized my whole schedule and I noticed that you and I have some classes together! Isn't that brilliant?" He says to me a bit too much enthusiastically, "So I thought we could sit together!"

"Yeah, sure. I would like that!" Why did I just lied? Me and my stupid need of pleasing everyone. I mean don't get me wrong, JJ is a sweet guy, but he is also boring. Most of the times I don't even know what he is talking about, since I've already spaced out half an hour ago.

"Well shall we go then? The class will start in a few minutes!" He says to me insistently.

I nod in agreement walking along with him. Sometimes I feel bad for finding him boring, not only because he is such a nice and kind person, but also because truthfully, I have no more friends in school besides him. Since I got to this school, he was the only one who gave me a chance to show my true self. It's really hard to make friends when you belong to the most important and known family of the city. Everyone just sees me as a cocky and rich bitch, which isn't even remotely true. That's one of the reasons I feel that I can't be myself around other people, because since everybody already "knows" so much about who I am, then why bother showing them my true self?

"Emily do you want to sit over there?" JJ asks me pointing to a desk near the window.

"Yeah sure, it's nice by the window." I give him a small smile.

We sit down next to each other, me staying next to the window. At least I can look outside at nature and be reminded of what a great weather I'm wasting while being bombarded with problems about how many melons Jimmy can buy if he has ten pounds and still wants to buy bubble-gum at fifty cents.

Suddenly JJ touches my shoulder and points with his head to the teacher and I realize he's introducing someone to class. No fucking way! I know those eyes, and that blonde hair… Naomi? What is she doing here? Suddenly my heart starts to beat profusely and I feel like it's going to rip of my chest. I stare at her with my mouth half open in surprise and when she notices me she suddenly goes silent.

"Miss Campbell, is something wrong?" I hear the teacher asking.

"Oh no, I'm sorry, I lost my train of thought." She explains a bit embarrassed.

"Well then, don't worry about that. Now that you already introduced yourself, you may seat and welcome to our class!"

She gives a small thanks and goes to sit in a table on the other side of the room.

I look at her giving her a small smile, which makes her smile back and wave.

I lay back in my chair and continue to smile happily, sighing. I think this is not going to be such a bad year after all.

* * *

 **AN: Well there it is, I hope you liked it. I wanna thank KayEff for her support since the beginning. Every review of hers gives me hope and confidence to always write the next chapter. If you could follow her example by also leaving a review just write it right below. I would really be thankful to you. Thank you for reading! :)**


	7. Enter the Nicknames

**AN: Hello lovely readers and reviewers! Another completed chapter with the hopes that you will like it as much as the other ones or even more! Special thanks to KayEff as always for supporting me and my story so well! This time I also have three more people to thank! I wanna thank you** **TeenAgeRiot99 for leaving me a review on the previous chapter and also for supporting the story! The second thank you goes to restefany for having marked my story on your alerts list and lastly but not least, I wanna thank you cfonseca4 for having put my story on your favorites list!** **Without further delays, enjoy your reading!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 7**

 **EMILY'S POV**

The class turned out to end as fast as lightning, mainly because Naomi and I kept exchanging looks mocking the teacher every time he was being a boring pain in the arse, which means all the time.

Occasionally a while JJ would look at me confused by my behaviour. Note to self: _"Next time sit closer to Naomi, or even at the same desk."_

Hm… But that would mean that JJ and I wouldn't be sitting together. I can't do that to the poor guy. Maybe I can change places every now and then.

I suddenly see a hand waving in front of my face, "Emily? Are you there?" JJ asks me smiling. "We can go now, the class is over."

"Ah great! Let's go then." I get up to make my way to a certain blonde, but turns out she's nowhere to be seen.

"Hey JJ, have you seen the new girl?"

"Uh… No. She must have gone outside already."

"Hm I guess she did." I say making my way to the corridor, and as I do so, I catch a glimpse of the blonde head I was looking for, who is now by the lockers.

As she sees me getting closer, she leans on her locker smiling at me.

"Not even a "hello" back there?" I point with my head to the class door, "I'm disappointed!" I say putting my hand over my heart faking being hurt.

That earns me a laugh from her, "You're absolutely right! I should pay more attention to my most adorable fan."

"Most adorable uh?" I provoke raising my eyebrows. Wow, how did I get so confident suddenly?

Naomi leans into my ear and whispers, "That's right. Just be sure not to become a stalker. I wouldn't want to ask for a restraining order against you…" She steps back, smiling smugly.

I step closer to her, "Would that be so bad?" Seriously! Where in the world did I summed up such confidence?!

She gives a small laugh, "But of course, I can't risk losing a fan!" She lingers to whisper again, "It would be bad for my reputation."

I look at her feeling myself blushing, "Ah that would be the only reason, I see!"

She starts to laugh and I can't resist laughing along. Her smile makes my insides all gooey. This is new to me. A bit weird if I must say… But good!

"Hm Emily, I'm really liking this chat, but I think you've got someone waiting for you." Naomi says glancing over my shoulder.

I turn around and notice JJ standing behind me, "Oh JJ, come here! I want to introduce you to someone." I call him motioning with my hand for him to come closer.

"JJ, this is Naomi, a friend of mine!" I then look at Naomi, "Naomi, this is JJ!"

JJ greets her with his usual enthusiasm, but somehow Naomi looks a bit uncomfortable, giving him a short and cold _"Hi"_.

Silence falls between us for a bit, until Naomi speaks again, "So is he your boyfriend?" She asks clearing her throat.

I can't help but laugh, "No, no! No way, JJ is only a friend, we've been classmates for…" I turn to him for help.

"Three years and thirty-six months, if you also count holidays and weekends!" He says grinning like a child.

"Yeah that's right, thanks J!" I say turning my attention back to Naomi, noticing that her expression is much lighter now.

"Got it!" She says, nodding. I am going to ask something when I hear the bell ring, "Well time for class, I should go." Naomi says preparing to leave.

"Wait!" I stop her, grabbing her shoulder. She turns to me confused, "I just wanted to know your schedule, to see which classes we have together…" I ask stuttering a bit. Yep, same old Emily is back in action!

"Sure! We'll see into it, now I really have to go!" And proceeds to kiss my cheek, "Later stalker!" She says with a wink and a smile, and there she goes.

I stand there with my mouth open, I most certainly wasn't prepared for this kind of affection.

"Emily? Can we go?" JJ pleads touching my shoulder, "I really don't want to be late…"

It's only then that I notice my hand lingering over my cheek, which I immediately retreat, "Hm yeah, you're right!" I have the need to clear my throat, feeling my voice huskier that normal.

JJ then starts to walk through the corridor until he reaches the classroom. Hm the day is going well for now. English to finish the morning, followed by lunch! Then maybe I get to see Naomi… It's a three wins victory! I high five myself inside my head, which makes JJ give me a "what the hell?" look. But I really don't care, I'm just happy.

* * *

 **NAOMI'S POV**

I walk through the corridor, almost sweating with the nerves. Seriously Naomi? A kiss and a wink? Could you be more obvious? Oh and don't forget the brilliant: _"Is he your boyfriend?"_!

Yeah that was a rich one… God this girl will be the death of me! I inhale deeply and exhale slowly. Ok, don't freak out! You just have to play it a bit cool for now. Focus on your class and we'll see how the day goes. Hm… Let me see the next class… Ah, Introduction to Self-Defence, just what I **needed** right now… I can't help but roll my eyes.

I make my way to the gym and as I get there I hear the teacher already calling the students' names to see if everybody is present.

I do a little run to catch my classmates who are all lined up next to each other, and to all my lucks, I end up exactly next to my brother.

"Naomi, nice to see you're late on your first day." He says sternly not even bothering to lower his voice.

I scoff at him and whisper, _"Please stop behaving like dad, it doesn't suit you."_

"Naomi Campbell?" I hear the teacher call.

"Here! Present Sir!" I say raising my hand and then looking at the teacher. Oh shit! "Sorry! I mean Miss!" I try to correct myself after realizing my teacher is a woman. How did I not see that when I came in? Oh that's right, my idiot of a brother…

The teacher looks at me with a disapproving look. Yeah Naomi, great first impression you gave there…

"Well then, now that I know all of your names, I shall also introduce myself!" She pauses to look at all of us.

"My name is Samantha Greenwich; you may call me Miss Greenwich. Not Ma'am, not Mrs. and most certainly not **Sir**." She looks directly at me, smirking. I can't help but blush and smile back. Don't judge, her being my teacher doesn't change the fact that she is in fact a beautiful woman. I mean a girl has eyes right?

"Alright then class, now that's settled, I'll begin to explain what this class is about!" She pauses again, "As you already know, at least the ones of you who actually look at their schedules, this is "Introduction to Self-Defence" and here you'll going to learn the quickest and smartest ways to attack and **specially** defend yourselves in one-on-one combat. Understood?"

The class all nods in agreement. Hm… I thought this class was going to be a bit boring because of my annoying brother's presence, but it looks like it's going to be interesting after all!

While the teacher explained in theory what we're going to specifically learn, I realized that I was so immerged in what she was saying that I only noticed the time was over when the bell rang.

"Well Naomi, it sure will be fun kicking your arse in front of the whole class!" Nathan said with a provocative tone in his voice.

"Careful there " _dear"_ brother, all that confidence may make you sound like a prick!" I look at him in false realization, "Oh wait! It's already too late to fix that! Shame…" I finish saying, smiling coldly at him and leaving. I have better things to do and also better people to see. I just have to find out that beautiful head of shiny red, but I'm stopped by a hand on my shoulder and turn around.

"For fuck's sake Nathan, what do you want now?" I roll my eyes impatiently.

He touches the back of his neck nervously, "Look I'm sorry ok? I didn't mean to sound like a prick, I was just messing with you!"

I shrug my shoulders, "Yeah well it's your trademark, so I'm already used to it…" I say coldly.

"C'mon baby sis, I'm trying here! Give me a break." He pleads.

"Yeah whatever…" I try to sound nonchalant.

He grins at me for a few seconds and then asks, "Why were you in such a rush anyway? Leaving class I mean?"

"Naomi!" I hear a husky voice calling. Oh god not now… I turn around to greet her, "Hey Emily!" I say nervously.

"Oh Emily! You're that chick who went to our concert! Cassie's…?" Nathan says remembering.

"Cousin." Emily and I say at the same time, smiling at each other.

"That's right, her cousin!" My brother gives her his signature smile, "What is a fit little bird like you doing here in this hell hole?"

Emily looks at him confused, "Hell hole?"

I sighed, "He means this school." Personally I'm a little frustrated that Emily didn't shut him up because of the whole _"fit little bird"_. Face it Naomi, you clearly don't stand a chance against your **oh so charming** brother!

"Oh I see… Well where else would I be going to school?" She says shrugging her shoulders at him.

"Well for a proper girl like you, I would have to guess The Academy of Beautiful Beings." He grins confidently.

"Hm I see… And where did you get that pick up line? From the Book of Ancients?" Emily asks raising her eyebrows.

I can't help but snort and smile at her. Nice one Emily! On second thought maybe I do stand a chance…

"You didn't need to be rude!" Nathan says angrily at her.

"Likewise!" She says smiling with sarcasm and then turns to me, "Naoms would you like to have lunch with me?"

Naoms? Wow I like the sound of that. "Yeah Ems, I would love to!"

"Wow what's that? _"Naoms"_?! _"Ems"_?!" Nathan asks with disdain.

"This is me and my friend going somewhere quieter, where there won't be any **pricks** bothering us!" I say grabbing Emily's hand and dragging her out of there. I smile at the feeling of her hand in mine, it's so warm and soft. Instead of going directly at the cafeteria, I lead her to the bathroom to make sure my brother isn't following us.

"Why did you drag me in here?" She says giggling and still holding my hand.

"Ah I was trying to make sure my brother wouldn't be following us to lunch."

She furrowed her eyebrows, "Do you really think he would after we made it pretty clear we didn't want him near us?"

"Trust me, he would."

She clears her throat, "Well Naomi… Maybe you could let go of my hand now…"

"Oh yes! Of course!" I say instantly retreating my hand, "I'm so sorry, I was distracted…" I feel my face turning red.

"No, no problem! It's ok…" Well at least I'm not the only one embarrassed in this whole situation. Emily's face is almost as red as her hair.

Also I've got to say, I already miss the warmth of her hand. Oh well… Everything that's good lasts very little time.

"Uhm… Naomi? You didn't mind me calling you _"Naoms"_ back there right?" She asks unsure.

"No! Don't worry about that!" I paused and gulped before saying, "To be honest… I kind of liked it…"

"Really?"

"Yeah… It has a nice ring to it that's all." I say touching the back of my neck.

"I get that, I feel the same way when you called me _"Ems"_. It's… **familiar** you know?" Emily says with a shy smile.

"Yeah, I do." Very much Ems…

Our silence is interrupted by Emily's stomach making noises, "Well as much as I like to be with you, I think we can find a much better pleasant place to be in, such as the cafeteria! Which I would love to be in right now!" She says laughing while patting her stomach.

"All right! The lady will have what she wishes for!" I say making a bow.

"Ahah you really are a gentleman!" She laughs while walking in front of me leading the way to where the so desired food is. If I get to be with her more times like this every now and then, then this sure will be a hell of a good year at this school!

* * *

 **AN: Well there you have it! I'll start to write the next one this week, and try to update the next week. Once again your opinions are what matter to me and are what gives me the will to continue writing, so please if you can, leave a review! Even if it is a simple three words sentence. Until next chapter! Alex xo**


	8. Meet Babe!

**AN: Hello to all of you, I hope you're still with me and my story. I know it's been a while since I posted the last chapter, but I'm going through a rough time personally, and it's been hard to write something that I find worthy of reading. I always try to give you my best, so I was and still am a bit insecure about this new chapter. However I decided that you deserved more of me, so it is. I hope you'll like it, it's a bit short, but at least is something. I also want to thank you for all the new reviews, favorites and followings, it makes me really happy to know that there are people reading and liking my story. Without any further delays, enjoy reading, and as usual, any reviews will be very welcomed!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 8**

 **NAOMI'S POV**

Emily and I get to the cafeteria and start looking for a place to sit, "Hm Emily, you go ahead and get your food. I'll look for a table." I say making my way through the other students without even giving her a chance to answer me. I walk a bit more and finally find a table not too far away from the bar. When I sit there, I see Emily coming my way with a tray of food on her hands, so I motion for her to sit.

She does, and rests the tray on the table.

"Ok here I am! Now you go and get your food, although I can't promise I won't be done with mine when you return…" She smiles and looks hungrily at her food.

"All right, I'll be back in a minute." I say smiling back.

A few minutes pass and I'm back at the table, sitting down in front of her.

"Ah! I see that after all, you did wait for me to get started." I smirk, noticing the food still intact on her plate.

"I may have had one or two chips." She answers grinning.

I laugh at her and start digging at my own food. After a few bites, I start to speak again, but we end up speaking at the same time and she smiles embarrassed.

"Sorry, you go first." I smile encouraging her.

"I was just wondering… Why are you at this school?" She asks a bit nervous.

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, "What do you mean?"

I see her hesitating before answering, "Well… I thought this was an exclusive school for the people who live inside the city."

"Hm… A few years ago yes, it was like that. Only the Royals and sort could attend this institution." I explain to her, "At least that's what I was told." I finish, shrugging my shoulders and turning my attention back to my food.

"Oh I see. I had no idea. My father always told me that this school was only for the finest families of his society." She says rolling her eyes, "I began to question many of his beliefs…"

I smile kindly at her and can't help but touch her hand, "It's ok. I do the same with mine. It's only natural; we start to grow up, seeing things differently."

She gives me a small smile while looking at our hands, "Yeah I guess you're right…"

"Hey girls!" I retreat my hand as soon as I notice that JJ is standing next to Emily.

"Hey JJ! Do you want to sit down?" She asks him smiling. I can't help but feeling jealous of the way she's smiling at him. C'mon Naomi get a grip, they're just **friends**!

"Yes, thank you!" He says sitting on the chair right next to Emily, of course!

"So J, did you find the book you're looking for?"

"Ah yes Emily, it wasn't so difficult after all." He smiles at her.

Emily and I return to our food, and after a few minutes JJ turns to me, "So Naomi, how are you liking this school?"

"Well… it isn't a funhouse, but it could be worse. At least the company is enjoyable." I say smirking at Emily, which makes her smile shyly at me. Cute!

"Naomi! There you are." I hear a voice very well known by me, calling.

It had to be my brother, again. As he gets to us, he sits next to me.

"Please, have a sit." I say with sarcasm, rolling my eyes.

"Hello Emily, pleasure to see you again." She gives him a fake smile, and looks at me. I shrug my shoulders at her displeased.

"And who might be you?" Nathan asks a bit rude to JJ.

"Uh… JJ, pleased to meet you." JJ says with a nervous tone to his voice.

Nathan snorts, "Funny hair kid!"

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Emily says angrily.

My brother raises his hands in defence smiling, "Calm down pretty thing, no need to snap at me."

"Nathan please just go away!" I plead to him.

He looks at me, and I think I see a look of hurt on his face, "What's the matter? All of a suddenly I'm not welcomed to your little group of friends, is that it?"

This time I feel guilt rushing through me, "Nathan, no, that's not…" I try to explain, but he cuts me off, "Oh fuck off! I have better things to do anyway!" He says, getting up and leaving.

I clench my jaw trying to control the anger building inside of me. Suddenly the air feels very heavy, and I almost forget that Emily and JJ are sitting with me, until I feel a hand on top of mine. Somehow that helps easing a bit of the tension inside me.

"Naoms… You ok?" Emily asks softly.

I sigh deeply, "Yeah, whatever…" I look at both her and JJ, "I'm sorry you had to witness that." I feel myself blushing embarrassed.

"Don't worry about that. We understand, right JJ?"

"Yes of course! Siblings' fights, everyone has them. Well at least people who have siblings, that is. Emily and I couldn't possibly know, since we don't have any brothers or sisters. Also…"

"JJ we get it." Emily says smiling at him, and then at me.

"Thank you guys…" I brush my thumb over hers and give her a small smile.

Suddenly the bell rings, marking the time for the afternoon classes.

"Well girls, I should go, I have to be on time for my next class." JJ says to us, getting up, "Aren't you coming?"

Emily looks at me uncertain and then turns to her friend, "Uhm… I think we'll need a few more minutes. I'll see you later yeah?"

He nods and goes into the corridor while other students do the same.

After a few seconds of silence I began to speak, "Uhm… Emily… You didn't have to stay here with me. I mean, this is nothing new to me. Nathan and I are always getting on each other's nerves like this."

She lets go of my hand to rest her chin on hers and looks at me kindly, "I figured that much already. I also know you can handle it yourself. However, I couldn't stand leave you here alone to your thoughts. I felt your tension, even more when I put my hand on top of yours."

"Hm I see. Thank you for staying then."

She waves her hand, "Ah forget it, it's no big deal!" And laughs, making me laugh along.

"Although…" Emily looks at me seriously now, "I remember what you told me the night we met, when we walked together through the woods, so I know it hurts when you get mad at Nathan." She pauses for a bit, noticing my look of discomfort, and reaches for both of my hands now, "That's why I want to tell you, I'm here for you. Count on me, ok?"

I squeeze her hands in mine and smile, "Ok, I will." And give her a small smile.

She smiles that magic smile of hers, "Good! Now enough of sappy talk, what are you going to do this afternoon?"

"Hm… I have… History I think." I reach for the schedule in my bag, "Yep. That's it!"

"Although on second thought, I'm not really in the mood for listening about the importance of the Royal family for an hour and half, so I'm gonna skip it."

She looks at me terrified and I can't help but laugh, "Please don't tell me you've never skipped class?!"

"No, never…" Emily says with a low voice and blushing.

I grin at her, "Well there's a first time for everything." And now she just looks at me confused, "Do you want to skip class with me?" I ask her raising my eyebrows and smirking.

"Actually… I've always wanted to try skipping class. And with you it sounds like it could be fun. Also it's only the first day of school right?" She smirks back.

"Oh Ems, it **will be** fun, I promise." I get up, grab my bag and wait for Emily to grab hers, and lead the way to the door that gives access to the main entrance.

After two minutes we find ourselves breathing the fresh air outside. I inhale deeply, "Ah, finally some freedom!" And give Emily a big smile.

She grins and looks up at the sky, "It sure is a wonderful day, no clouds at all."

"Yep! But it's best if we keep moving, I'm sure you don't want to get caught."

"Oh that would be dreadful! As soon as my father found out, I'd probably be sent away or locked up in my room." She said a bit bitterly, following me.

"I really hope you're joking Em." I said concerned.

Emily didn't say anything more and I continued to lead the way, only stopping when I reached a black motorcycle in the parking lot.

"Uhm… Naomi? Don't tell me that's your vehicle?!"

"Indeed it is." I say proudly, "Emily meet Babe!"

She gave a husky laugh, "Ahah! You really named it?!"

"Well yes! She's my best companion on the road, I had too!"

"Sure, it makes perfect sense." Emily said trying to contain another laugh.

"Oh just shut up and hop on the damn thing!" I said and couldn't resist smiling when she gave me a frightened look. I sat first to reassure her, "See it's safe! Don't be scared."

Even with my insistence Emily still didn't make a move towards me, "I don't know Naomi… It looks really dangerous."

My heart almost leapt at seeing her look at the floor embarrassed, and I had to resist the urge of hugging her in a tight embrace. Seeing as I couldn't do that, I got up and went to her, "Look, first time riding a bike is scary, I know that. I also understand that you're not used at getting out of your comfort zone." I paused and cupped her cheek with my right hand so that she could look at me. When she did her eyes were black, a bit different from the brown I've been seeing in them. Somehow that made me a bit nervous, but I proceeded with my speech, "Despite all that, I'm an experienced driver and not a complete stranger to you, I think."

"Yeah, you're not." She spoke again in a low voice, "A stranger to me, I mean."

I smile kindly, "Ok then we'll make a deal! You get up on the bike, and as soon as you don't feel safe, I'll stop."

She nods, "Ok. We have a deal." And gives one of her signature smiles.

"Ah there's that beautiful smile again!"

"Stop it!" Emily says smiling blushing.

"Ok, let's go then! Put your helmet on and hold on tightly to my waist, got it?"

"Yeah, I'm ready!"

And with that I turn the engine on and drive into the road outside school. During the ride I feel Emily tighten her grip around me, and I know this will sound bad, but I couldn't help the huge smile on my face because of the rush that went through my whole body for having her so close to me. I just hope she feels the same.

* * *

 **AN: Well there you have it, I'll see you until next chapter ;)**


	9. Skipping School

**AN: Hello lovely readers, I'm back! Thank you to KayEff and TeenAgeRiot99 for your concerns regarding the rough moment I was going through and still am, although I'm gradually feeling better. I also want to thank all the new followings and favourites to my story, it means a lot, believe me!**

 **Now about the chapter! The last one was really short I know, so this time I wanted to reward you with a chapter with more plot to it and development. I hope that you'll like it, the story is still going slow** **but I'm trying to work everyday on it.**

 **Without further delays, enjoy your reading and as always any reviews will be most welcomed!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 9**

 **EMILY'S POV**

Riding on a bike for the first time really is scary, but eventually my fear subsided once I hold on to Naomi's waist and just focused on the journey itself. I don't know why, but being with her calms my fears as if she has always been there in my life protecting me.

I ended up being brought back to reality from my thoughts as I realized we had stopped. She parked her _"Babe"_ and helped me get down of it.

"So Emily, was it so bad?" Naomi asks smiling.

I smile back, "No. After a while it was actually rather enjoyable."

"Hm yes, _"Babe"_ can have that effect on you." She says playfully.

"Well I wasn't only referring to the bike, but whatever you say. You're the expert."

She blushes a bit now, "Yeah, I see." She clears her throat, "We should get going then, the pub is just right ahead."

"The pub? At this hour?" I ask surprised.

"Yes Emily, but don't worry. I don't intend to get you drunk." She says walking in front of me.

I nod in understanding, and immediately hear her say in a low voice, _"Not yet anyway."_

"Hey! I heard that!" I say gently slapping her on her arm. She gives me a cheeky smile that makes me laugh.

"Just kidding Ems. You're going to like this place, I promise." Naomi assures me now with a kind smile. I can't help but feel warm inside with her concern towards me.

We stop in front of a door with a sign that reads "Fishponds Tavern". It looks very old and abandoned. As if she had read my thoughts, Naomi says, "I know, it doesn't look cosy and it looks like someone hasn't been here in ages. But give it a chance yeah?"

"Oh I'll give it a go." I nod in agreement.

Once she opens the door I'm met with some voices from different people. There are some playing pool in a corner with a hanged sign saying "Uncle Keith's Pub". In the background I can hear a song playing from the jukebox, but not very loud, and as I turn my eyes to a booth on the other end of the pub that stays next to a window, I think I see Cook, Tony and… Cassie?

"Emily?" I see Naomi's hand waving in front of me, "Is there any chance you could get out of that head of yours and come sit with our friends right there?" She says pointing with her head to the booth.

"Yes, of course! Sorry." As we approach them, Cook instantly gets up, "Naoms, Ems! So good to see you my little birds!" And gives us one of his trademark bear hugs.

"Cook, you're suffocating us." Naomi says trying to wriggle herself from his arms and dragging me along. He eventually lets us go and we sit next to the others.

"Hey guys!" I say to them, "Cassie what are you doing here at this hour?"

Cassie raises her eyebrows, "I could ask you the same thing. Shouldn't you be in class right now?"

I scratch the back of my neck, "Ahm… Well the thing is…"

"Her class after lunch got cancelled, the teacher had the flu or something like that. So I thought it would be nice to bring her here to meet the pub." Naomi intervenes for my relief, I didn't really know what to say. Although I don't like the fact that we just lied, but I'm sure Naomi did it for good reasons.

"Yes that's right. So when Naomi invited me I thought _"why not?"_ , at least I get to do something different."

"Ok honey, I'm glad you came then. This is one of our favourite places to hang out. Everyone here is very nice." Cassie says smiling at me and I smile back.

"That's right. Good food, music, and people." Tony says smiling.

"And most importantly, good beer!" Cook finishes laughing out loud, "Which reminds me, two more lagers Keith!"

"Cook, don't you think you've had enough?" Cassie asks concerned.

"Ah don't worry blondie, the Cookie Monster doesn't break easily!"

"Cook you know I like beer as much as you do, but I have to agree with Cassie on this one. It's already your fifth today." Tony tries reasoning with him.

"You're wrong mate. It will be my sixth, I'm gonna drink them both." And so he does, and chugs them both down in one gulp. He then gives a loud howl, kind of like a wolf in celebration.

I look at the rest of the group and see they're all worried. Why doesn't anyone do something?

"Hey Emily. Ya know, until now I hadn't noticed, but ya are a proper fit little bird. Wouldn't ya like to get to know me?" Cook says wriggling his eyebrows at me.

I furrow my own, "Excuse me? Get to know you?"

"Yeah! Ya know, we should get together, have some alone time."

"Cook that's enough!" Naomi spats at him and gets up, "Come on Emily, let's go away from here." She says grabbing my hand for me to stand up.

"Ah that's nice! Look at you all lovey dovey. Cute!" He says in a mocking tone.

Cassie looks at him angrily and says, "You better shut up now! You've said enough already." And follows me and Naomi to the exit. As we're leaving I can't help but hear Cook and Tony's conversation.

"Nice one mate! You've really overstepped the boundaries this time." Tony says sternly to him.

"Yeah? Well why don't you fuck off then?! Everyone eventually does anyway."

Tony sighs and speaks calmly, "Because if I did, you would probably end up starting a fight or getting hurt. And I don't want that to weigh on my conscience, so, here I am."

I have to admit hearing that made me worry about Cook. Since I've met him he has always been nice to me, I don't understand why his behaviour suddenly changed. But I guess it's no use for me to get stuck in these doubts of mine. What matters now is getting out of here with Cassie and Naomi.

* * *

 **NAOMI'S POV**

I can't believe he fucking did this! Who does he think he is to talk to Emily like that?! Ahrg I just want to punch him!

"Naomi, you ok?" My line of thought is interrupted by Cassie's voice. I look at her and try to disguise my rage, "Yeah I'm fine." I answer giving a fake smile.

She scoffs and says with sarcasm, "Sure, I can see it all on your face."

"Ahm… girls, I know it's none of my business, but why was he like that?" Emily asks a bit unsure.

I sigh and try to explain, "It's not the first time it has happened. When Cook drinks he gets a little…"

"Out of himself." Cassie finishes my sentence.

"Exactly! But this time it was too much. The way he treated you was wrong, like you were some piece of meat!" I try to explain to Emily without showing much of the rage I'm feeling inside.

"Oh I see… It wasn't my fault then?" She asks with a low voice looking down at her feet.

Cassie hugs her immediately, "Of course not silly! You didn't do anything wrong, he's the one at fault." Emily nods in her cousin's embrace. I feel the green eyed monster running through my blood. Pull yourself together Naomi, they're cousins! Besides, Emily's nothing more than a friend.

"I'll make sure he apologizes to you next time we see him." I say still a bit angry.

She lets go of Cassie's embrace and comes closer to me, "It's ok Naoms. You don't have to do it." She says touching my arm and smiling.

"I have to! You don't deserve being treated like that." I say upset.

And suddenly I feel her arms around me and my instinct is to immediately hug her, "Don't be mad. I'm fine really." I'm left speechless, the moment I felt her body around me my brain decided to stop working. Thanks a lot! But fortunately it didn't last long, because eventually she let go of me.

"Ok, I believe you." Ah my brain is back to work, thank you. Although on second thought if I had to choose between losing my ability to speak and having Emily so close to me, I think the answer is pretty obvious.

"So girls what do you want to do now?" Cassie asks.

Emily looks at me with a questionable look, "I don't know. What did you have in mind Naoms?"

"Well my plan was spending a lovely afternoon with my friends, but I guess that idea went down the drain." I answer bitterly.

"Let's not let an unfortunate turn of events ruin the rest of the day." Cassie says grabbing her phone and calling someone, "Effy? Yeah it's me (…) At the Fishpond (…) Just Naomi and Emsy (…) I know, yes (…) Ok see you soon."

After she finishes talking to Effy she turns to me and Emily, "Ok girls, change of plans. We're going to meet Effy at the water park. The weather is great today, so let's enjoy it properly while it lasts."

"Sounds good to me. I haven't been there in ages." I say smiling.

I notice Emily's uncertain look, but she eventually decides, "Ok, let's go. I'm curious about the place and plus it has water, so maybe we can swim." Emily says.

"Just make sure you have your bathing suit this time Ems. It would be a shame not being able to try the water." I say smirking.

"We'll have stop by the house on our way to the park Emsy. You and I need to change and grab some things." Cassie says to her cousin.

"Yes you're right." Emily answers and turns to me, "Do you mind if I go with Cassie and we'll meet you at the park?"

I begin to speak but Cassie interrupts me, "There's no need for that. Naomi can come with us."

"I don't think that's a very good idea. If my father caught us with her we'll be in trouble." Emily says with worry and I think I see a bit of fear in her eyes. It hurts me a little to see her like that because of me, so I decide to intervene, "It's ok girls, I don't mind. I had to stop by my house anyway." I try to disguise my discomfort.

"Are you sure?" Cassie asks uncertain.

"Yeah really. I have a few things I need to take care of, so I'll meet you later." I say hopping on the bike and putting my helmet on. I start the engine and wave them goodbye without even give them the chance to say something more. As I drive to my house I try to focus on the rush that is for me to ride, but it's difficult to stop the voices in my head screaming that Emily didn't want me around her house. I just hope that going to the waterpark and being with the others will help getting my mind off of this.

* * *

 **EMILY'S POV**

Cassie and I ended up calling Alfred to come get us and take us home. As we arrive Cassie and I went up the stairs and to our closet to get the clothes we needed. While I was packing my bag I felt her stare which was making uncomfortable, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

She sighed before answering, "Emsy you know I love you, but sometimes you can be really thoughtless about other people's feelings."

I look at her confused, "What do you mean?"

"Just now when you said Naomi shouldn't come with us because your father would be mad."

"What is wrong with that?! It' the truth!" I try to justify myself.

"It might well be, but it doesn't change the fact that you basically said that she isn't allowed in our house!" Cassie says a bit harshly now.

I'm taken aback by that, I wasn't expecting it. I feel a lump growing in my throat and I'm starting to get anxious, "Do you think I might have hurt her?" I ask with a low and husky voice, more than it usually is.

I see my cousin's expression soften, "Honestly, knowing Naomi well like I do, the hurry she left with on her motorcycle showed exactly that."

"I see…" After hearing the confirmation from Cassie, my anxiousness subsided to only be replaced by a heavy feeling of guilt and sadness. Probably noticing that, Cass continues to say, "Hun, I know you didn't do it on purpose, but sometimes your naivety gets in the way. You have to be more careful of how you sound like to others, ok?"

I look at her and give her a nod and a small smile, "Ok, I will be more careful. Thank you for letting me know."

"It's ok, you'll get there in no time." She says smiling at me and turning her attention to her bag, "Well I'm ready. You?"

"Yeah, I am too."

"Good! Then let's go and call Alfred, he must be on his break." She says picking up her bag and walking into the corridor, but before we reach the stairs I have the urge to grab her arm and stop her.

"Cassie wait! I don't think it's a good idea for me to go after what I just said to Naomi…"

She turns to look at me and it surprises me how calm her voice is, "On the contrary. It's a wonderful idea because you get to apologize to her."

"Oh…" I consider it for a few seconds and eventually say, "You're right. I do owe her an apology." I smile at her.

"Good. Now let's go slowpoke, they're probably already waiting for us." Cassie says laughing and getting down the stairs.

I laugh behind her and say, "Slowpoke? Really?! Are we seven again?"

We both giggle and make our way outside, waiting for Alfred to pick us up.

* * *

 **AN: Well there you have it, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If in any way you think I can improve my writing or you just want to leave a compliment, you already know the drill, all it takes is writing a review. See you next time!**


	10. Bitter News

**AN: Hello once again lovely readers! First I want to thank all of you who read, reviewed and favourited, it means a lot really. Now about this chapter, it's longer than the previous one and it also has a lot of development in the story. With that said I just wanna ask you: Please don't kill me! And I hope that after this chapter you'll still follow my story. Well all that's left now to say is: Enjoy your reading and as always any reviews will be most welcomed!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 10**

 **NAOMI'S POV**

I get home and park my motorcycle at the usual spot in front of my house. After taking my helmet of and grabbing my keys out of my leather jacket, I go to open the door and notice that it's already unlocked. Finding it strange, I go inside and try to make as less noise as I can and when I enter the hallway and hear the sound of the telly coming from the leaving room, I immediately know what's going on.

"Nathan." I sighed, "I should have guessed." I say as I plump down on my couch.

"Welcome home Naomi." He says without much emotion in his voice, "Took you long enough to get here."

I scoff and ask bitterly, "Are you controlling me now?"

He shrugs and says, "Father asked me to."

"What?! Why?" I ask annoyed, "What did you say to him?"

He furrows his eyebrows, "I didn't say anything." His expression immediately changes to a challenging one, "Are you afraid I'll tell him your dirty little secrets?"

"Oh bugger off will you?" I say getting up to leave the room.

"Naomi wait!" He calls and I turn around to him.

"That's not the only reason I came for."

I sigh, "Fine. What was it then?"

He gulps and gives me a guilty look, "Earlier in the day, I realized I acted wrong with your friend."

"You mean JJ?" I ask trying to sound oblivious.

"No! I mean, him too. But I was referring to Emily."

"So? What's new? It's not the first time you were a prick to a friend of mine's."

He sighs and says almost desperately, "I'm trying to say I'm sorry ok?"

I squint my eyes at him confused, "Why now? What made you want to apologize this time?"

"Because in a certain way I could feel that that girl is important to you." He says with a hint of worry in his voice.

"What makes you say that?" I shrug my shoulders, "She's just another friend."

"Yeah well, you can call it anyway you like it. It doesn't change the fact that you look at her as if she is the most precious being in the room." He says bluntly leaving me with an open mouth.

I gulp hard, feeling the words stuck in my throat. I don't know what to say, I don't even know if I am able to say anything at all.

"Look Naomi, I know we have our disagreements and quarrels, but you're still my sister. I can sense very well what you're feeling."

He waits for an answer from me, but I can't give him one. After a short pause he speaks again,

"Just be more careful this time ok? I don't want you to go through the same shit again."

I nod and finally answer him, "I will be." He gets up and comes to me giving me a hug. I missed his hugs; I had almost forgotten how comfortable his embrace was.

"Thank you Nathan." I leave his embrace now, "And I'm sorry I snap at you at school. I know you left there hurt."

"Yeah well, I pretty much deserved it." He says smiling and I smile back.

"Ah but wait! That was one of the reasons for you being here. What about dad's request?"

He looks at me oblivious, "Honestly, I don't know. He just said I should come here to check on you. Maybe he just wanted to know if you were fine. Since you started living here on your own, you haven't given us many news."

I give him a sad look, "I'm sorry for that too. But it's hard for me to be in that house since, you know…"

My brother looks at me with a sad but kind smile, "I know baby sis, but it's hard on all of us. Just try to make a little more effort for me and dad, please? Especially for dad."

I nod and give him a small smile, "Ok. I will."

"Good. Well I have to get going now." He gives me a kiss on the forehead and goes to the door, saying before he leaves, "I'm glad we sorted this out."

"Yeah, me too." I wave him goodbye and after he's gone I let out a huge breath of relief.

After all this, I realize that I haven't gotten ready yet and I'm probably late to meet the girls at the water park. Shit! Hurry up now, no time for being picky, I just got to get up to my room and put my bathing suit and towel in my bag and get going. With that sorted in only a few minutes, I go downstairs and make my way outside to my bike. Ok, all I have to do is just start the engine and drive. Let's go _"Babe"_!

* * *

 **EMILY'S POV**

The waterpark was not that far from our house, so with Alfred driving we got there in no time. We walk for a bit until we spot Effy laying on a towel near the water.

"Hello miss sunshine, trying to get suntanned are we?" Cassie asks her.

"More like sunburned." We hear a voice from behind us say in playful tone.

"Hello to you too Naomi." Effy says smirking.

Cassie turns to Naomi, "You got here fast." I also turn to greet her, but somehow my body is not cooperating with my body, seeing as I can't even look at her in the eye.

"Yeah I did, even though I had an unexpected guest waiting for me at home."

"Oh did something bad happen?" My cousin asks with concern.

"No, no, don't worry. It's all settled now." There's a short pause after that.

"So Emily, are you gonna say hi to me, or are you just gonna stand there?" Naomi asks me and I think she's a bit annoyed.

I finally lift my head up, "Yeah, sorry. I just…" My brain decides to go blank as soon as I see her crystal blue eyes pierce right into my soul. Nevertheless, I had made a commitment with myself, so even it's hard as hell, I have to apologize for what I said.

"I would like to talk to you alone, if you don't mind." Well look at that, I said it without even stutter.

"Fine, let's go then." She answers, "Girls we'll be right back. Don't soak up all the sunrays please. I would like some of them for myself too."

Effy and Cassie both laugh, as we go to walk.

"You know Emily, these walks of us all alone are becoming a habit."

"Yeah, you're right."

"So… What did you want to talk about?" She asks.

I stop now and try to look at her eyes, but immediately look away from her.

"I just wanted…" I begin to say but she interrupts.

"Emily, if we're going to talk, I need you to look at me." She says putting her hand on my cheek and turning my face gently to her. Then she kindly smiles at me and I feel myself blush profusely.

"Why is it so hard for you to look at me?" Naomi asks softly.

My heart starts pounding like crazy, almost leaping out my chest, "I don't know. I just… It's like you can see right through me."

"I see, it's the same for me." She says taking her hand from my cheek and clearing her throat, "Anyway, you have something to tell me, what is it?"

"I just wanted to apologize for what I said earlier, about it being bad for you to be at my house." I say, and I think I see a bit of sadness on her eyes, "I didn't mean that I didn't want you there, because I do. Very much!"

She insists, "But?"

I sigh, "But my father is very intolerable with certain things, and one of those is _"No one enters this house, unless it's someone from our family our royalty."_ I pause, "So, when Cassie said you could come with us, I got scared that he would throw you out or get mad if he saw you."

Now she's the one who looks away to the floor, "I see. Well maybe we shouldn't hang out so much together then." She says with sadness evident on her voice.

I can't resist to grab her forearm, "No! That's not what I'm saying." She looks at me again and I proceed, "I don't want to stop seeing you. I couldn't… You're my friend."

She shrugs, "So, what do you plan on doing?"

"We can still be together, as long as you don't go to my house and my father doesn't know about our friendship, then it's alright."

She rolls her eyes and says with sarcasm evident on her voice, "Well that's just great isn't it?"

Hearing her speaking like this hurts me more that I could admit, but I understand perfectly why she feels like this, "I'm sorry. I know it's bad, but it's the only I can be your friend. Will you give it a chance?" I plead to her.

"Will we still be able to hang out at school?"

"Yes of course!"

"Ah fine! I accept then. How could I resist to those brown puppy eyes anyway?" She says smiling. I love to see her smile, it makes me so warm inside. But… wait a second.

"Puppy eyes?!" I ask her faking being unaware of what she's saying.

"Oh c'mon! Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about." She says chuckling.

"I have no idea, no clue at all." I say and smirk.

She shakes her head in disbelief, "You're a vixen Emily Fitch."

"Auch, now I'm hurt." I say putting my hand on my chest messing with her.

We smile at each other for a few seconds until we remember that we're supposed to be with Cassie and Effy, so we decide to go.

* * *

"Ah there you are! Long chat eh?" Effy states smirking.

"Yeah we had somethings to clarify." Naomi answers her sitting down.

"I'm glad you did. Emsy come and sit with me." Cassie says patting the space next to her and I do.

The four of us stayed like that, just enjoying the place we're at and the great weather in the company of each other's, talking about nothing and everything.

Eventually, the subject of conversation fell on what had happened in the afternoon at the pub.

"I'm worried about Cook girls. He isn't usually like that." Cassie says to us.

"I know. I will try to talk with him." Naomi says worried.

I want to ask them something, but I don't know if I should. I end up deciding to, "Do you have any idea why he acted like he did?"

Effy sighs, "I may have a clue why."

"Well tell us then." Cassie insists.

"Ok." Effy pauses, "The other day I heard Tony and Cook speaking at my house, and for what I understood, it seems that Cook got called to go fight the war."

Cassie and Naomi both look at her with great worry evident on their faces.

"What, why?" Cassie asks with her voice breaking.

"I think they're already choosing the people who will fight, starting by the ones who don't live near the city." Effy says with a low and sad voice.

I'm really confused by this, "War? There's going to be a war? What are you talking about?!"

Naomi looks at me with a shocked expression, "How could you not know? It's a war that your family summoned!" She raises her voice mad at me.

"Naomi! Don't talk to her like that! She has nothing to do with this." Cassie snaps at Naomi and holds me to her.

"Cassie what's going on?" I ask my cousin starting to get scared.

Effy and Naomi look at her shocked, "She really has no idea, does she?" Effy states coldly.

Naomi looks at Cassie with disappointment, "You didn't even had the guts to tell her. Nice one Cass."

"Cassie? What didn't you tell me?" I insist with her.

"Naomi is right. The Royals always had a quarrel with another Empire, and it's been years since they agreed to stop the wars and each one would live in his own lands without disturbing the other." Cassie pauses, and looks at me with so much sadness, that I almost don't recognize me happy and strong cousin, "But it seems that now… The other Empire wants to take everything our family conquered and owns, which means that we have to fight one another."

I step away from her, "No… It can't be. Please tell me this isn't true! Please…" I plead her in disbelief. Please tell me this is all a dream.

"I'm so sorry Emily, I'm so sorry you had to found out this way." Cassie says now crying.

I look at Effy and Naomi, and both of them are quiet and with cold hard expressions on their faces. Why won't they say anything?

"Naomi, Effy! Tell me it isn't true!" I say anxious.

Naomi looks at me with so much sadness on her voice and her beautiful crystal blue eyes are now a shade of dark, almost empty, "I can't Emily. Everything that Cassie said it's true. Your family is sending us to war."

"No… Don't say that…" I say as the tears start pouring down my face.

Cassie comes closer to me and says, "Emsy, we should go home now. It's getting late."

I shove her away, "No! Don't think for a second that I will go home to a family that's sending people to war! That's choosing a friend of mine to go fight for them!"

"You should do what Cassie's saying. It's best if you go and rest, it's getting late." Effy says coldly without even looking at me.

"I can't! How am I supposed to face my father?!" I say angry.

"Cassie. I agree with Emily. If she goes home in the state she's in, your family will get suspicious and will start to wonder where she learnt such information." Naomi says worried.

"What do you suppose we do then?" Cassie asks losing her patience.

Naomi stays silent thinking and after a seconds says, "You can come and stay at my house. I live alone so no one will be there. Also your family doesn't know me, so they won't be looking for you there."

"Naomi I don't know, you could get in big trouble." Cassie says, "I don't want you to suffer because of us."

She gives us a small smile, "You're like my family Cass. If I don't help you what kind of friend would I be?"

I'm having so many mixed feelings, I don't know what to do, I'm starting to get locked on until I feel Naomi putting her arm around my shoulders, "C'mon Ems, it's no good to be suffering here in the cold. Let's go, both of you can rest at my house. Effy you come too, I'll phone Tony later to pick you up. Is that ok with you?" She says.

"Yes, of course. I'll go too." Effy says, "Also, someone has to drive us there, you don't expect to take us all on your bike right?" She gives us a small smile.

"Yes, you're right. I had forgotten." Naomi says to her, "I'll come early tomorrow in the morning to get it."

After they had settled what to do, we entered Effy's car and she drove us all to Naomi's house. I was still stuck to the information I had just learned about and I felt so tired I ended up falling asleep; hoping that this was all just a nightmare and that soon I would wake up.

* * *

 **AN: So... That was it! Once again, I hope you're still with me on this. And believe me when I say that it was really emotional and hard for me to write this chapter, but even so, I decided to take a risk and publish it. If you have any complaints or just want to give your opinion feel free to leave a review. I'll see you until next chapter, hopefully.**


	11. Safety at Naomi's

**AN: Hello to you all! I hope you liked the previous chapter, because I already have this one ready. I wasn't sure if I should post it so early, but between yesterday and today my creativity has been going to the max so much that I had the urge to start writing and finish this chapter in only two days. Which could mean two things: Either this is an excellent chapter or it's a really bad one.**

 **I'm hoping for the latest obviously, but even with the chance that I could be making a huge mistake, I'm gonna take the risk.**

 **So without any further delays, here it is, and as always, enjoy your reading.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 11**

 **EMILY'S POV**

I wake up in a jolt, sweating profusely and feeling my heart beating as if it were to explode at any second. I look around, trying to understand where I am. Oh, that's right, Naomi's house. Which means last night wasn't just a bad dream…

I feel my mouth dry, so I decide to go downstairs to grab a glass of water, even though I have no clue where the kitchen is. As I reach the end of the stairs, I try to walk through the hallway without making too much noise and see if I can make it to the kitchen.

"What are you doing Emily?" I almost jump of scare when I hear her voice.

"Hell Naomi!" I turn around to face her, "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" I say trying to speak as low as I can.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to know if you need anything." She says with a low and sweet voice.

"Yeah, I was looking for the kitchen to grab some water. My mouth is a bit dry." I try to explain.

"Ok, it's just this way." She says entering the room and turning the light on.

"Let's just try to make as less noise as possible." Naomi says to me while filling a glass with water. She then turns to me and sets it on the table, "You don't need to be standing there Em, sit down and make yourself at home."

I smile meekly at her and sit down, taking the glass of water in my hands and drinking it. She approaches me with a worried look, "You ok? You are looking very pale. More than usual that is."

"I'm really peachy. Just had a nightmare and woke up in sweat, nothing much." I say full of sarcasm.

She sits on the chair next to mine, "I'm sorry you had to found that the way you did." I hear compassion on her voice.

"What? That my father is sending a friend of mine to death?" I scoff bitterly, "At least now I know I'm the daughter of a mercenary. Great isn't it? Just fucking wonderful…" My voice breaks at this point and I feel tears forming in my eyes. Naomi gets closer and pulls me to her chest, holding me while I cry, "Why does he have to do this? My fucking family…"

"Shh, I'm here Ems, you're not alone. It's ok, let it all out." She says kissing my head softly as my grip around her waist gets stronger. I feel as if I let her go, something bad will happen to me.

"I'm so sorry…" I say trying to speak between sobs. Then I feel her lifting my head gently to face her, "Em, don't think for a second that you have anything to do with it. You are not your father. You are Emily, you are **my** friend Emily ok? Never forget that."

I nod weakly and retreat to her chest again, starting to calm down a bit.

"Never compare yourself to your father Em, you're a beautiful person. You don't deserve it." She says whispering softly, calming me down to the point that I gradually end up falling asleep in her arms. This time, I had a much more peaceful sleep than before. Because in my dreams there was Naomi, protecting me. With her by my side, I felt like I could face all the things that haunted me.

* * *

 **NAOMI'S POV**

Emily eventually fell asleep in my arms and she looked so peaceful that I would never forgive myself if I woke her up, so trying to take her upstairs was a bit risky. I decided to lift her up and take her to my room instead since it's the closest to the kitchen. Once I got there, I tried to gently lay her on the bed without disturbing her sleep, and as soon as I did it, her body instantly relaxed onto the bed. I reached for the bedspread and a duvet and put them over her. Seeing her peaceful like this made me smile and after I made sure she was ok, I decided to leave the room.

"Naoms…" I turn back, "Don't leave me here, please…" She pleads with a hoarse voice.

"I'm right next door Em." I say softly approaching her and kneeling in front of her. I can't help but caress her beautiful red head, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Could you lay in bed with me?" She asks lowly looking me straight in the eye. Again, I'm really not able to say no to her sad puppy eyes.

"Ok, I will." I say getting up and going to lay on the other side of my bed. I reach for the duvet and cover myself adjusting my body into a comfortable position, at the same time trying to let some space between me and Emily. After a few seconds I close my eyes and start to feel sleep coming to me, but I open my eyes again when I feel her getting closer to me, trying to put her arm around my waist. I instinctively put my own arms around her, pulling her closer to me.

"I'm here, you're not alone Ems." I say calmly, running my hands up and down her back, gently. I feel her nod and relax into my body, "Sleep tight beautiful. Tomorrow is another day."

It makes me so relieved to feel her peacefully sleeping that I eventually fall asleep as well. I guess in the end, we all need one another.

* * *

 **EMILY'S POV**

I feel light entering the room and I start to open my eyes. As I do it, I see a blonde and beautiful woman facing me, still asleep. That's right, she ended up staying with me until I fell asleep, I remember now. She's so peaceful, I don't want to disturb her, but I can't help and reach for her fringe to tuck it behind her ear. As I do so, she stirs a bit and furrows her eyebrows. I smile at her cute expression as she starts to open her eyes.

"Hm… Is it morning already?" She asks with a groggy voice.

"Yeah, how did you sleep?" I ask noticing the huskiness of my own voice.

"I still am…" She moans covering her face with the duvet and I chuckle at that.

She peeks from under her cover, "Don't laugh at me. I can be a real big pain in the ass in the morning."

"Fine you cranky." I say getting under the covers with her, "I'll join you under here then." I smile playfully at her.

She looks at me with worry, "How are you feeling Em?" And touches my arm, running her hand up and down slowly.

"Better, I guess." I look away from her, "Thank you Naoms, for putting up with me yesterday." I say feeling ashamed.

She moves her head to follow my gaze and smiles kindly, "Don't say that. You needed someone and I was there."

I still can't look her in the eye, so she puts her hand on my cheek, "Hey, look at me." And I do.

"I did it because I wanted to, ok? You deserve to be treated well." She says kissing my forehead.

I feel my heart beating quickly and my stomach fluttering, I have an urge I can't quite name. All I know is that I want to be closer to Naomi, to feel her closer to me. Physically, but I don't know why? Or how?

I gulp nervously, "I really like when you act like that with me." I say with a low voice.

She seems confused, "What do you mean?"

"I… I don't know." I think for a couple of seconds, "I like it when you hold me and… When you kiss me, like you did just now."

She's looking at me with an expression that I can't decipher. She's probably thinking that I sounded like an idiot. Shit.

"I like it too…" She says blushing, "When we are together like this, I mean." And gestures between us.

I stare at her in disbelief, I certainly wasn't expecting an answer like that, but I try to continue the conversation, "What do you think it means?"

She ponders for a bit, "I don't know. I feel a need to be closer to you." And says lowering her voice, "But… I'm always afraid I'm overstepping your boundaries."

"Oh… Well I could tell you if you were."

She nods, "Sounds fair to me."

Silence falls between us and we just stay in bed looking into each other's eyes. She retreats her hand from my arm and I immediately miss her touch, so I decide to grab her hand, "Don't."

She looks at me confused, until I put her hand back on my arm, "Don't stop. I like to feel your touch on me."

"I see. Come closer to me then." She says grabbing me by the waist gently and pulling me closer to her, our faces just inches apart. I feel my face reddening and getting hot.

"You know how beautiful you look when you blush like that?"

I smile shyly, "Says the girl with the amazingly beautiful azure eyes…" I say in a low and husky voice.

"Your voice gives me shivers…" She says lowly.

"Is that a bad thing?" I ask almost in a whisper.

"No, it makes me want to…" She says getting closer and looking down at my lips.

I can't help but look at hers too and as we both lean into each other and our lips touch, my eyes close immediately and I feel such a delicate softness that I never want to let go of her. It seems like we were always like this, it feels familiar. We kiss one, two, three times, and then suddenly she stops, leaving me longing for more.

"Why did you stop?" I ask almost whining.

"Because I am afraid of doing this against your will…" She explains in a week voice.

"You aren't." I say, kissing her again, softly, "You would never do anything like that."

"Ok. I just don't want to push you into anything Emily." She looks at me with worry, "I know you've never been with anyone like this…"

"Shh, it's ok." I say tracing her beautiful soft lips with my finger, "I want this." And move my hand to caress her cheek.

She grabs it and kisses my palm, looking at me softly, "You will tell me if it's too much alright?"

"Yeah." I say kissing her again, "We have a deal."

"Let's seal it then." She says raising her eyebrows playfully and kissing me more passionately this time. Well, I guess I finally have the answer I was looking for. Emily Fitch, for the first time in your young life, you've fallen for someone. And that someone "just" happens to be a girl.

"Em…" Naomi says after we part from each other, "We should get up. We have been here for a while now."

"Yeah you're right. Besides, I want to check on Cassie, to see if she's ok." I say playing with a blonde lock of her hair.

"Ok honey, let's go then." She says getting up from the bed and I do the same, walking to the door.

"Ah before I forget. There's a bathroom here just down the hallway and there's another upstairs. Feel free to use them anytime you'd like."

"Alright, thanks Naoms." I smile and go upstairs, knocking on Cassie's door, "Cass, can I come in?"

"Of course Emsy, come on in." I hear her voice calling from the inside and I open the door.

"Hey, good morning." I say to her who is sitting with her back resting against the bedframe.

"Morning. Come sit next to me honey." She says patting the space next to her.

I go and sit mimicking her position, "How did you sleep?" I ask looking at her.

"Fine." She shrugs her shoulders, "Considering the situation from yesterday."

"Yeah…" I say and looking down at my hands on my lap.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sweetie, I was just trying to protect you."

I look at her again, "How could you? I would eventually find out the truth."

"I don't know… I guess I had the naïve idea that by not telling you, it wouldn't become reality, so that way you wouldn't suffer." My cousin says with sadness.

"So you kept it all to yourself." I put my hand over hers, caressing it, "You had to deal with it alone. I can't even imagine the pain you must have been feeling."

"I had to Em. Because I was afraid that if I said it out loud, it would become a real thing, and I didn't want that."

Tears start falling down her face, "I couldn't stand the fact that our family was going to send the people I love to war." I reach for her face and wipe away the tears, at the same time feeling my own eyes watering, "I know Cass, this all thing feels like a bad dream to me. It's like the family I've known my entire life suddenly changed into one that I would despise."

"What are we going to do?" I ask her, almost desperately.

She sniffs and looks at me, "Honestly, I don't know. The decisions are made, we can't do anything to change that."

I look at her sadly, and feel a rush of fear starting to run through my veins, because after all these years with Cassie by my side, it's the first time I hear her sound so hopeless. She's suffering so much, and I feel so impotent because I can't make it go away. There's only one thing I can do, that I have to do. I'm going home and speak with my father, even if it's the hardest thing I have to do right now, but I can't just sit still and watch him send the people I care about to their death. I have to be brave now, for Cassie, Cook and all the others getting caught up in this hurtful decision.

I get up suddenly and wipe the tears from my own face, "Cassie, we can't stay here doing nothing while our family gives this kind of orders." I say determined grabbing my clothes from the night before.

"What are you doing?" She asks getting up.

I turn to her, "I'm putting my clothes on, and then I'm going home to talk with my father."

"What? Emily you can't do that!" She pleads grabbing my forearm.

"Cassie please let go of my arm." I say and look at her sternly, "I need to do this."

"He's not going to listen to you!"

"Yeah, well, I guess I'll just have to find that out by myself." I answer coldly leaving the room and going downstairs as fast as I can, trying to go out the front door without Naomi noticing me. But as I get outside I realize that my plans are ruined as soon as I see her leaning next to her bike.

"Going somewhere hun?" She asks with a tone I can't quite understand.

"I…" I think of lying but I know it's useless, "I'm going home. To talk with my father." I say coldly, "And you're not gonna stop me."

She scoffs, "Who said I would?" And asks grabbing a helmet from her bike and giving it to me.

I look at her confused, "Why are you giving me this?"

Naomi looks at me with a smug look, "Let's just say the walls on this house are thin, and you and Cassie didn't exactly speak in low voices."

"I still don't understand. If you heard our talk then you have even more reasons to stop me from going."

"Emily, listen." She says sighing deeply, "I'm no one to judge your decisions, so if it's what you wanna do, I won't get in the way."

"Ok, but that still doesn't explain why you were here waiting and are now giving me your helmet."

She shrugs her shoulders and says smirking, "I said I wouldn't get in your way, but I never said that I wouldn't help you. Besides, I don't want you to go alone."

I can't resist giving her a big smile, "I see. Well shall we go then?"

"Of course my lady, your carriage awaits." She says motioning for me to get up on the bike as she did the same.

I snort at her sentence, "Only you to make me laugh at a time like this Naoms."

"Yeah well I try." She says turning the engine on, "You already know the drill beautiful, just hang tight."

"With great pleasure." I say smiling holding on to her waist as much as I can.

"Ok, give me all you got _"Babe"_! Our passenger here is on a hurry."

I slap her thigh in a playful manner, "Just drive already silly."

And she does just that, entering the road that will eventually leads us to my house. While we ride I feel anxiety and fear rushing through me once again, but this time is easier to fight them back, because this time I'm not alone. I have Naomi by my side and that fact only gives me half the courage I need to face my father.

* * *

 **AN: Ok this is it. Let me know what you think with a review. I'll give my attention to each one of them, good or bad. So don't be shy ;)**


	12. Emily The Brave

**AN: Hello, here I am again with another chapter. I hope you liked the previous ones and I hope you'll like this one. I also wanna thanks all the reviews and views, they are the things that give me strenght, confidence and will to keep writing this story. So once again, I'm sharing more of it with you.**

 **Enjoy your reading!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 12**

 **EMILY'S POV**

About half an hour later we arrive at my house, with Naomi parking a few blocks away, even though she wanted to wait at the gates in case I needed some help, but I was able to convince her that I would be fine on my own. Now I just had to convince myself. I ring the intercom and immediately a voice came from it, "Who is it?" I rolled my eyes, "It's me, Emily."

"Ah yes, Miss Emily. I'm sorry, I did not recognized you." Rose says through the speaker, opening the gates. I can't really blame her, her eyesight isn't so good seeing she is one of the oldest staff on our house. Once the gate is open, I enter with my head set on going to the main door. On my way I smile and say hello to Guillermo the gardener, he's a nice guy and also very kind. He has been working here since Cassie and I were little kids. I remember we used to spend afternoons by his side while he showed us all the different kinds of flowers he planted on our garden and what were their names and species. That was actually how we found out that Cassie was allergic to Lilies. That day she suddenly couldn't stop sneezing and we didn't know why. I laughed my ass off at seeing her sneeze so hard and so many times. Eventually Guillermo figured it out what the problem was and made sure she was never around Lilies anymore. That's one of the best memories I have of my childhood, it's sad that people get to a certain age and no longer have the rituals that used to make them happy. But apart from that, I still cherish that time I spent with him, I guess that's why I feel so good whenever I see him still taking care of the garden after so many years.

I continue to make my way to the door going through every paved step until I reach the last one and stop, right in front of the big windowed doors. Ok Emily, this is it. No running away with your tail between your legs now. Deep breaths. Inhale… Exhale…Ok! Let's do this!

I open the door and peek carefully inside, to see if someone is close by. Hm… It doesn't seem like it.

"Young Lady!" I hear a voice say sternly from behind and immediately stiff like a tree, at the same time trying not to die from a heart attack.

I decide it's best to turn around, "Hey dad." I say in a nervous tone.

"Where were you?" He asked harshly. I can't answer him. Seeing as he wasn't going to hear a peep from me, he says again, "Get inside so we can talk properly."

I do as he says, obviously, as he puts his hand on my shoulder leading me to the leaving room.

I sit on the couch and he sits on his armchair in front of me. He reaches for the table by his right side and picks up his smoking pipe, lightning it up and taking a small puff.

He then turns to me, "So Emily, daughter of mine, decided to spend the night away." He says in a calm tone. I don't know if I should be relieved or scared. I don't anything at this point.

"I'm sorry I didn't warn you dad. It's just that we went out after lunch and when we looked at the time it was already night so we decided it was best to stay at a friend's house." I say too quickly, immediately regretting have said the part about the friend. Stupid, I smack my head mentally.

"Hm… I see." He gives another puff, only this time longer and slowly, "Who is this "we" you're referring to?" He asks maintaining his smooth tone, only this time looking at me with his signature cold stare.

"Well you know… Cassie and I…" I answer him meekly, _"And some friends of ours."_ Whispering the last sentence, but of course that for his sharp and keen hearing, it sounded like a loud cry.

"Friends you say? Is that boy Jeremiah Jones when of them?"

"What? No!" I immediately said afraid that he could do something to him.

"Ah I'm glad. He's such a frail boy, he will never be able to succeed in this society." He says almost with a voice of, relief?

"What do you mean?" I ask confused.

He inhales deeply, "You see my dear Emily, in this society of us, only the stronger ones prevail. We with the Royal blood are the few who can do so." He says now with a cocky tone.

"I don't believe in that." I say, and I notice surprise all over his face.

"If we were so capable and better than anyone else, you wouldn't be sending people from the outside to war." I say imitating his previous calm voice.

His expression suddenly changes into an angry one and he gets up from his chair, "Where did you hear that? Who told you?"

"Doesn't matter does it?" I say, also standing up, "What matters is that you're sentencing people to death who have done anything wrong! You say we Royals are so strong and special, but you won't even get off your high horse to fight a war that is only yours!"

After saying that the only thing I feel is his palm on my cheek, slapping me hard. I feel my skin burn, rage running through my veins rapidly and next thing I know, I'm coming on to him fast, trying to hit him with my fists. I can't see anything in front of me other than red but as soon as I'm close to his face, he grabs both my arms and stops me.

"What do you think you're doing?! Did you really think you could beat me? Emily my daughter, you're not yet strong enough!" He says in a snarky voice, shoving me aside.

I land on the cold ground, looking up at him angry like I've never felt before. At that instant I hear my mom entering the room as she runs helping me get up, "What did you do to our daughter?!" She shouts at my father.

He gives us a look of disappointment, "Look at you, weak! Just like your mother."

I look at him despised, "I would rather be like her, than like a cowardly monster like you!"

"Enough!" My mother says raising her voice, "Rose! Come here!"

Rose enters the room as soon as she hears calling, "Yes Mrs Fitch?"

"Take Emily to the kitchen. Robert and I need to talk."

"Mom, no! I won't leave you alone with him!" I plead to her.

She sighs, "Just do as you're told Emily, please. You've said enough already." I feel a thug in my chest. Did she just blame me?

"Come one Miss Emily, I will make you that tea you like so much." Rose says putting her arm around my shoulders and walking me out of the room.

Once we're in the kitchen I sit down in one of the chairs while she makes the tea, putting the kettle on. After that she sits next to me and pats my head gently and I can't help but cry a few silent tears, "Oh honey, don't cry. It's all over now." I give her a small smile.

"See, now that's better. You have such a beautiful smile." She says and gets up to grab the tea, putting it down in front of me, "There you have it. Drink up."

"Thank you Rosie. You always know how to cheer me up." I say kindly.

"Ah yes, it has always been like that. Since you were a little girl, every time you had a fight with your cousin and ended up sad, I would make you tea and biscuits. I would always gain a smile from you, and of course, the minute Cassie saw you in the kitchen eating alone she would join you, and just like that, you would make peace."

I smile happily at that memory, Rosie is right. Cassie and I were always conjoined to the hip, even when we were mad at each other; we never really stopped loving one another.

"I remember that. Thanks for making me feel better." I get up an give her a tight hug.

"Don't mention it honey." She says and we part, "Other thing miss, you shouldn't give so much importance to what your father says. He may be harsh, but he loves you." Rose says and resumes to her tasks in the kitchen.

" _Yeah well, he sure has an odd way of showing it."_ I whisper with a slight bitterness as I'm leaving the kitchen. As I get to the main entrance, I check to see if my parents are still in the living room. Nope, not a sight of them. Good, this means I can get out of here. I open the door as slow as I can trying to make zero noise. Once I'm outside it comes to me. Oh shit! Naomi! I almost forgot, god she must be worried as shit. Run for god's sakes!

After I run through the gates, I turn left and go down the road to where she is and I can see her come closer to me.

"What the fuck took you so long Emily?! I was worried sick!" She yells at me.

I'm panting, but I still manage to say, "I'm sorry." Trying to catch my breath.

She hugs me to her chest, "God, I thought I had lost you there! I was already trying to make out a plan to get you out of the house!"

"Naomi… You're choking me…" I say trying to squirm out of her arms.

"Oh I'm sorry." She says giving a small laugh.

"It's ok. I would do the same." I say, now being able to even my breathing.

"What chock me?" She asks provoking me.

"No you idiot! Hug you."

"Well you never know. I could be one of those people who likes being choked for pleasure." Naomi says with a serious tone making her way to her bike.

"I really hope you're joking." I say behind her.

"Maybe."

We both laugh as we get on the vehicle, with her turning the engine and driving back to her house.

* * *

"Cassie! You there?" I ask as I enter Naomi's house.

"In here!" I hear a voice calling from the leaving room, and I follow it.

"Hey Emsy, sit down with me." She says patting the spot next to her on the couch.

I plop down hard on the cushion and let out a breath.

"Your cousin here just killed me with worry." Naomi says to Cassie as she sits down on a beanie bag.

"I'm guessing it didn't go so well then…" Cassie says a bit sad.

"No, it didn't." I say looking down at my hands.

"Wait a second…" Naomi says and getting up and sitting close to me, "What's that mark on your face?" She asks and touches it slightly, getting Cassie's attention, which means I had two pairs of eyes set on me.

"Auch, don't." I say and wave her hand away. "It's aching."

Cassie grabs my other hand, "Emsy look at me."

I gulp hard as I feel tension turning up in the room, with me being the cause of it.

"Did your fucking father did this to you?" Naomi asks angry raising her voice.

I'm not able to answer her, and I feel the tears forming in my eyes again.

"He did, didn't he…" My cousin said with realization hitting her hard.

"How dare he?! To just hit you like that?" Naomi says furious.

"Leave it Naomi." I say coldly turning to her.

She looks at me hurt, and I can understand that. I would too. But right now, I don't need someone reminding me that my father didn't act correctly towards me. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about the fact that I wasn't able to convince my father to stop this war. I don't want to admit that I failed.

"Naomi, could you give us some time alone?" Cassie says to her with a soft voice.

She scoffs bitterly, "Fine. Suit yourself, I'm going to my room."

Once we're alone, my cousin asks again for me to look at her. This time I do.

"What exactly happened Emsy?" A tone of worry coming from her.

"I got there. He asked where I had spent the night. With whom. Then he said that we Royals are the supreme race. I said if we are so supreme then why did he had to send other people to war to fight for him. He asked where and from whom I had learned that information. Then I offended him and because of that he hit me. I tried to him back but he stopped me, throwing me to the floor. And lastly my mother entered and stopped whatever was going to happen next." By now I was once again looking down at my hands resting on my lap.

"I'm so sorry honey." Cassie says and hugs me tight. People seem to be doing a lot of that lately. I don't dislike it, but I'm not sure I like it either, seeing as the reason why they've been doing it's because in a matter of days, all that I believed in turned into shit.

"I know Cass. I'm sorry too." I say with what should sound like a sad voice, but instead sounds like apathy.

"I think it's best if I go and rest a bit upstairs."

"Of course. Take your time." My cousin says as I get up to leave the room. I climb upstairs quickly and as I enter the room I land on the bed with a loud thud. Fuck. What am I gonna do now? I have to find another way to put sense inside my father's thick head. But right now I need to rest, so I'm gonna take a shower and then take a small nap.

I get up and start looking for towels in some drawer on the room. When I find them, I take my clothes off and make my way to the bathroom, getting in the shower and turning the water on. I relax as I feel the warm water slide through my skin, and I wash my face carefully trying not to touch the spot where he slapped me. I turn the water off while I grab some shampoo and wash my hair.

"Emily." I hear Naomi's voice, and tense up as soon as I remember that I'm very naked and there's only one shower door between us.

"Naomi! What are you doing? I'm naked here!"

"I don't care."

"Oh well, I'm glad to know." I say rolling my eyes at her, even though she can't see me.

"I don't mean it like that." She goes silent but I can still see her frame on the door, although blurry, but viewable.

"I'm sorry I was cold to you." I say with regret, "You didn't deserve it."

"Thank you." She says simply.

"So… Do you intend to stand there?" I try, but I get no answer from her, "I would like to finish my shower, you know." I say with a nervous laugh.

"Ok, I'll be waiting for you in bed." She says and I see her frame is no longer there, so I resume my shower routine, rinsing of my hair and washing the rest of my body. Wait? Did she just say she was waiting for me in bed? What does that mean exactly? Does it mean what I think it means? Oh… Maybe she wants to start from where we left off this morning. It wouldn't be bad any other time, but I'm really not in the mood after today's events.

I finally turn the water off and get out, grabbing the towel on my right and covering me with it.

As I get to the room, Naomi is indeed waiting for me in bed, laying down looking at the ceiling with a blank expression on her face.

I sit on the other side slightly turning my body to look at her, "Naoms…"

She gives me a small smile, but I can see she's sad.

"So, here I am." I say trying to cheer up the mood a little. She shifts and turns on her side, now looking directly at me, and when I see her eyes my chest tightens. They are clear crystal blue, almost white, and they are damp. And they are holding so much sadness in them that I have this urge to quickly lay next to her and hold her to me.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I ask softly while running my fingers through her hair in a soothing way.

She tightens her grip on my waist and rests her head on the crook of my neck, sniffling.

"I was scared, of losing you…" She says and kisses my neck lightly, making my heart pound like crazy.

"I'm here now." I say closing my eyes to the feeling of her lips against me.

I feel her move her head back a little and she kisses my lips so softly that it's as if the World would end if she did.

"I know." She says as we part, looking at me for a few seconds, before she reaches for my cheek and touches it lightly and with fear in her eyes, as if she were to touch fire. When she does it stings a little and I can't help but flinch.

"Does it hurt too badly?" She asks in a soft voice, brushing her thumb carefully against the red mark.

"It stings a bit." I say, trying to contain the pain I'm feeling.

"Close your eyes?" She says gently and I nod. She kisses the tip of my nose, and then my forehead while caressing my cheek with her soft hand. Gradually, I feel the pain starting to go away to a point where it just disappears.

I open my eyes surprised, "How did you do that?"

"It's one of my gifts." She says kissing my previous red stained cheek and moving to whisper in my ear, "It only works well with the ones I cherish."

I feel my face reddening again but this time from embarrassment and she laughs, "Well now you're just ruining my work."

"Shut up, silly!" I smirk shyly at her and she giggles at me.

I look down at her soft and inviting lips and tilt my head to meet them and I am received gladly. Our lips part a little at the same time and I feel her tongue searching for mine, and as I meet hers I feel a rush flowing through my body like I've never felt before. It goes from the tip of my toes to my chest, and I feel a tingling in my sex. A moan comes out of me and I try to hold her closer to me, as I feel her hand descend into the small end of my back. That's when I remember, I'm naked!

I pull away from the kiss too quickly, so quickly that she stares at me confused with her lips still parted slightly.

"What's the matter?" She asks confused but her expression immediately turns to one of worry, "Oh god, it was too much wasn't it? I pressured you, you didn't like it. I'm so, so sorry. I won't do it again, I promi…"

I cut her away with a kiss, lighter than the previous, "Naoms, don't freak out, I liked it ok? Very much." I smirk.

"Oh… Then why did you stop?"

"Because I realized that I'm naked apart from being covered by a small towel." I say as a matter of fact, gesturing to what I'm wearing.

She looks at me up and down, "Oh, that's right. You really are." And starts to move away from me.

"Hey, hey." I say grabbing her by the waist and pulling her close to me again, "I didn't told you to step back."

"Ah but I thought…"

"I just said I was naked because… I don't wanna rush things either, but that doesn't mean we can't cuddle and kiss spectacularly like we did just now."

She gives me a large smile and raises her eyebrows playfully, "It was pretty spectacular indeed."

I laugh at her and we stay like this for a while, kissing and looking into each other's eyes, snuggling closer.

"I want it to be special." She says after our lips part once again.

"What do you mean?"

"Our… First time. I want it to be special." She brushes the tip of her nose on mine, "I want you to feel safe and sure about it."

"I already feel safe…" I whisper and kiss her again. She feels so good against me, I don't know how I would ever feel unsafe with her. She's my shelter, as long as we're together, nothing will break us down. And it was with that thought that I started to drift off and falling asleep, as she did the same.

* * *

 **AN: And we reached the end, of this one of course. As usual your opinions are much valuable so all you have to do is leave a review! Ah it rhymed! (reference to "The Story of a Dying Girl" by writer "TeenAgeRiot99") Go check it out, I promise you'll love it, at least I do :)**


	13. A Father's Request

**AN: Hello beautiful people. So this chapter has two particularities, it's not written in any characters point of view and it's a lot smaller. But I thought it was important to show you more of what kind of people Emily and Cassie's family are, therefore I hope you'll like it.**

 **Enjoy your reading!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 13**

 **THE ROYAL MANSION**

Robert Fitch takes his wife to his study, closing the door and motioning for her to sit as he does the same.

"Robert what just happened back there? Are you out of your mind?" Joanne asks her husband.

He sighs hard before answering, "Emily was disrespectful towards me. She needs to learn how to treat her father properly."

"And you think violence is the key to that?! Do you realize what you did? You hit your own daughter!" Joanne shouts at him.

"I had to do it!" He shouts back leaving her wife looking at him with rage evident in her eyes.

"What is it that made you do it? What great reason did you have?"

Robert stays silent for a short time before answering, "She knows about the war. She came here to tell me she doesn't approve of it."

Now Joanne is the one that goes silent, "And that was reason enough to hit her?" She says with disdain while getting up, "You make me sick Robert, I don't even recognize you anymore."

Her husband gives a bitter laugh, "I guess we're perfect for each other then."

After hearing that, Joanne leaves the room closing the door hard behind her, leaving Robert alone to his thoughts.

"Women… All the same. I had hope that my daughter would be different, but it turns out I was wrong." He says to the room, "I must have a word with my brother."

Robert decides to get up and go to his brother favourite room in the house, the library.

"Jonas my brother, I could never understand your passion for books." He says as he gets near his brother.

"As I never understood your passion for order." His brother says, closing the book on his hands and looking up to where Robert is standing, motioning for him to sit down in front of him.

He does as Jonas says, letting out a breath as he plumps down on the leather chair, "I guess that's why I'm the only one working to keep this family at its best."

"How? By tearing it apart?" Jonas asks, his voice filled with sarcasm, "I guess you're doing a mighty fine job then."

Robert laughs bitterly, "I guess you heard what happened a few moments ago."

"What? That you hit your daughter and then yell at your wife?" Jonas looks at his brother, with a look of disapproval, "You know brother, it's nothing new that your methods can sometimes be a bit _"harsh",_ to put it lightly. But to hit my dear niece Emily? Well that's reaching a deep low, even for you."

Robert expression changes into one of guilt, "I don't know what took over me. I felt such rage filling my blood that I only realized the mess I had done when Joanne came and stopped me."

Silence falls between the two brothers, but not a comfortable one. It is more like those kind of silences where there is so much to say but you aren't able to because the mere thought of opening your guts hurts.

"I'm afraid I would not have been able to stop if my wife hadn't intervened."

"You know Robert, I remember when you starting dating Joanne, every time you looked at her your eyes would shine so bright that even at that time I already believed that she was gonna be your wife, the love of your life."

Robert smiles with fondness at the memory, "I remember that too. I was so happy back then." He says with a hint of sadness on his voice.

"But that started to fade away slowly and your eyes lost almost every light on them." Jonas pauses looking directly at his brother, to make sure he has his attention, "Until Emily came along. The day your daughter was born, it was like a fire had lit inside of you and left a burn on your heart that would never fade away."

"Jonas…"

"Ah! Let me finish please." Jonas plead to his brother and Robert nodded in agreement, "Whenever she smiled at you I would see a glint in you eyes even brighter than the one you have ever had for Joanne."

"Where are you going with this Jonas?" Robert asks in a low voice.

Jonas sighs at his brother, "What happened Rob? What was it that made you change so much to the point that you can't even look at your daughter like you used to?"

Robert looked at the window on his right and stared at the view.

"Do you see all this? All this empire I've built?" Jonas nods, paying attention to him.

"I've never wanted it. I wanted to travel with my beautiful Joanne and show her all the world, like she and I deserved." Robert says with sadness, "But when father died he only had one request for me, _"Rule this family to its best, we are Royals, we never fall, we're never defeated. It's up to you my son, it's my last wish. Keep the Empire alive."_

"Robert, the man has been dead for years now! Why do you still follow his orders, his beliefs?!"

"You don't understand." He paused, "At the time I thought I didn't want it. All the power, all the responsibility." Robert gives a bitter laugh, "But I'm just as human as any other man, and the more I had the more I wanted. Greed and overconfidence took over me, and before I realized, it was too late. My wife started to look at me with sadness in her eyes each and every day. Emily started growing up at a speed that I couldn't even keep up and started to look so much like her mother every year that passed. I started to feel so distant from them both and so lonely, that the only thing that kept me alive was the same that created this tremendous gap between me and them."

"I never imagined that to be the reason… Nevertheless, you are still in time to do things right. You can stop this war! It's not too late brother!"

Robert laughs bitterly once again, "Can't you understand? It's too late now, it doesn't mind what I do or don't. Joanne's look of disdain towards me will never disappear and Emily's is just going to keep getting harder."

"I don't believe in that. I think you're just scared to try. You've grown so used at people thinking that you're this heartless man who has no consideration or good feelings for anyone, that it's too risky now for you to show you're a better person than that. Because if you do, people may not believe you and not give you a second chance."

Robert gets up once his brother finishes talking and says sternly, "None of that matters. The war is declared, there's no going back now."

"Robert…"

"I already started calling people to duty to fight against our enemies. They'll start training and getting prepared the following months. And when is time, they'll be sent to foreign territory to defend their Empire."

Jonas gets up and faces his brother, "Your Empire! It's all for you! You selfish cunt, you can't even see what's right in front of you! You are sentencing yourself to death. And you know why? Because you need the people from this city and outskirts more than they need you."

Robert scoffs, "Please brother, don't make me laugh."

"Laugh all you want now, because when you have the people starting to revolt against you and taking down your precious Empire, I think you won't be laughing so hard."

Robert gives a bitter laugh, "I guess we'll just have to see then. I want you by the Grand Hall by tomorrow morning. We'll have a reunion with The Office to go over the plans and start the preparations."

"You'll drag us all down with you, you idiot!" Jonas shouts at his brother as he leaves the library.

"Bloody fucking thick headed man. May the Gods put some sense into him, and may they help us all." He says looking at the ceiling, in hope that some greater force hears him. Because truth be told, they'll going to need it.

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 **AN: Ok you already know the drill, any opinions just leave a review. See you next time ;)**


	14. Passion Flames Ignited

**AN: Hello beautiful readers! Thanks for all the views and special thanks to KayEff and TeenAgeRiot99 for your reviews, as always. You should all follow their example and leave a review ;)**

 **Ok now about this chapter, a LOT longer than the previous one, and *DRUM ROLL* it has finally a great amount of Naomily sexy interaction! Yes, your prayers have been heard! So grab a bottle of water and a towel, and maybe after you're done reading you should take a shower.**

 **Well, enough of chitchat, enjoy your reading!**

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 **CHAPTER 14**

 **NAOMI'S POV**

I wake up with an insistent ring on my doorbell and loud knocks on the door.

"Bloody hell!" I mutter while running down the stairs still half-sleeping, "Just wait a sec!"

I reach for the knob and open the door, "Nathan?"

"Fucking finally Naomi!" My brother says hurriedly walking inside and closing the door behind him.

"Well good morning to you too." I grumble and follow him to the living room.

"Morning? You do realize is seven pm right?" He says already plumped down on the sofa.

"Really? Uau… I must have lost track of time." I say surprised and sit down next to him.

"Is everything alright around here?" Nathan asks me with concern.

I furrow my eyebrows, "Yes… Why? Shouldn't it be?"

He sighs, "Dad told me you had friends over."

"Ahm… yeah? Since when is that a problem?"

" **Royal** friends Naomi. Hiding! That's the problem."

"Oh… I see. Well what was I supposed to do? Emily found out about the war and she didn't want to go home, neither did Cassie. So I brought them here."

"Wait, wait! War?!" Nathan asks me confused.

"You don't know?" I sigh, "The Royal family declared a war against some other Empire, and they're calling people to duty."

His expressions changes quickly to one of fear, "Who are they calling?" He asks in a low voice.

I look at him sadly, "People from the outskirts of the city, outsiders and such…"

"Are they gonna call us? Have they called any of us?" Nathan asks nervously.

I avert my eyes from him and say almost in a whisper, "Cook… Cook got called."

"It can't be true…" He says and grabs his head between his hands, "It's only a matter of time until they call us too."

"Nathan…" I pat him gently on his back, "It's ok. Don't worry about it, we don't know that yet."

"Oh but we do!" He says raising his head again to look at me, "We are the outsiders! We're all gonna be the first ones to be chosen."

I gulp hard, in the deep of my guts I know he's right, but I can't accept it as being truth. I won't.

"That doesn't mean anything ok? Let's just wait to see. Maybe the war won't even happen."

I see a bit of hope in his eyes but it soon vanishes as he says, "Cook… He must be devastated. I have to go see him right now."

He gets up to leave but stops as he sees someone standing at the door.

"Emily, Cassie, good to see you…"

"Is he right?" Emily asks looking at me, "Is it true that even you might be called?"

"Em…" I say getting up and going to her.

"Don't treat me like a child!" She says angry shoving me away.

"Emily!" Cassie scolds her but she just ignores it.

"Nathan?" Emily looks at my brother waiting for an answer.

"Yes it is. Cook already was, soon enough we'll get called too." He says coldly looking back at Cassie and her, "I'm sorry, but I have to go and see Cook. You and my sister should talk."

"Nathan wait!" Cassie says grabbing him by the arm, "Can I go with you? I need to see him too, please." She asks, almost pleading.

"Of course Cass, he will be glad to see you, I'm sure." Nathan answers smiling and motioning for her to follow him outside, closing the door on their way out.

"When were you gonna tell me?" Emily asks crossing her arms across her chest.

"I didn't think it mattered. Why make you worry about something that may not even happen?" I say looking meekly at the ground.

"Well why don't you let **me** decide what I should worry about?" She says raising her voice.

"Why are you mad at me?" I ask angry.

"I'm not! It just upsets me that you kept something like this from me." Emily says with a hurt look on her eyes.

"I'm sorry Em." I run my hand through my hair and sigh, "I just…" I'm not able to elaborate my speech, how can I possible tell her that there's a chance I might get called? I can't do that to someone I adore so much.

"Naoms…" She reaches for my hand, "I'm sorry too."

"About what?" I ask confused.

She averts her eyes from me, "About not being able to talk my dad out of this idea."

"Emily." I grab her face with my two hands, giving her a small peck on the nose, "It's not your job to do so. It's not your fault baby."

She gives me a small kiss on the lips a bit afraid at first, but as I deepen it she does the same, holding my face between her small and soft hands. We stop to breathe and I crave for more, but I know that now it's not the right time.

"Come sit a bit with me." I take her hand and we sit on the couch, and she rests her head on my shoulder.

I put my arm around her shoulders, treading my fingers through her silky red hair.

She sighs, "Hm I love to just be with you like this." And looks up at me with shiny and adoring eyes.

I smile looking down at her with awe, "No one has ever looked at me like that."

She moves back a bit so she can face me and asks with furrowed eyebrows, "What do you mean?"

I reach for her eyebrows with my thumb to soften her expression, "You look at me like I am the most wonderful thing you've ever seen."

She smiles shyly and caresses my face with her hand, "Well you are…" I hear her say more huskily than usual, "With your beautiful platinum hair almost like snow and those bright blue eyes that hold the whole sky in them."

I'm pretty sure my face is resembling a tomato by now, and my heart is trying to leap out of my chest, but I'm loving every second of it. And I think she can feel it as she leans in to kiss me softly and smiles into my lips, "And how could I ever resist these delicious lips?"

"Em…" I start to say, but she grabs my hand and puts it over her chest, and I feel her heart beat as fast as mine, "This here proves it." She says smiling kindly.

I give her a big smile and move my hand to her neck, pulling her closer to me so I can kiss her.

She accepts me gladly and moves so she's now straddling me and I grab her waist with my hands. She feels so good against me, I feel a shiver running through my skin.

Her right hand is now on my hair and her left one is holding onto my shoulder. I part her lips with my tongue and find hers waiting for me, her warmth embracing me.

"Hm…" I hear her moan against my mouth and I move my hands to her bum, but soon realize that we're very close to each other as I feel her pressing against my crotch.

I stop kissing her, moving my head back a bit to look at her face, now a tiny shade of pink.

"What's wrong?" She asks frowning. I bite my bottom lip nervously, "We should stop."

"Why?" Her expression changes and I see a hint of sadness, "You didn't like it?"

"No, no! It's just that… If we keep going I'm not sure I'll be able to stop myself." I say shyly.

"Oh…" She says, before looking down between us, "Oh!" She looks at me with a surprised look, adorable.

"I can see what you mean… I'm sorry, I got carried away."

"No need to be sorry. I got carried away as well." I say softly at her.

She gives a chuckle, "Yeah, your hands still on my bum pretty much prove that."

I instantly remove my hands as if I was playing with fire. Which in a certain way I was, I think.

"Naoms…" She grabs both my hands and rests them on her waist, "I don't know if I'll be able to stop either." She says lacing her hands behind my neck and resting her forehead against mine.

"Emily… You're making it very hard to resist you." I whisper against her lips.

"I'm not the only one who's irresistible right now…" She says in her sweet husky voice and I just melt even more, still not being able to move away from her.

"Naoms…" She looks down at my lips, "Just give me…" Her tongue comes out as she licks her lips. I can't take it anymore, I have to taste her more.

I kiss her, grabbing the back of her neck and pulling her down with me, my hands resting once again on her bum. She moves away from my lips and starts leaving small butterfly kisses along my jawline and resting on my earlobe, biting it gently.

"Hm…" I moan at the feeling of her teeth against my skin and she continues to kiss me, trailing down my neck slowly, sucking gently at it. I'm starting to feel a fire rise within me, burning me from the inside. I move my hands higher and rest them at the bottom of her breasts, earning a moan from her. She's kissing my collarbone and steps back a bit to look me in the eye, "Is this all right?" I hear her ask insecure. I smile and nod at her, bringing her closer to me and kissing her, my hands still close to her breasts. I move them up carefully, fondling the fabric of her shirt.

"Hm… Naoms…" She moans and holds on hard to my shoulders, and I take the opportunity to kiss her smooth neck.

"Your skin is so soft Em…" I whisper against it, while still caressing her breasts and I can feel her nipples getting hard under the fabric as she gives another moan, this one deeper. I love that I'm having this effect on her.

Her breathing is becoming heavier and I feel her hot breath against my skin as she starts grinding at me slowly, creating an urge in me to grab her right breast harder and massaging it gently, while my other hand starts to go down as I rest my fingers on the hem of her pants.

By this time I'm breathing heavier as well and we both moan between kisses. I move my hand to the inside of her pants reaching for her knickers but I'm suddenly stopped by her hand.

"Wait." She asks with a hoarse voice, looking down to where my hand is, "Don't… Don't do it."

I remove my hand from her pants immediately, resting it on her waist, and with my other hand I cup her face, "I'm sorry…"

She looks at me nervously, "No, don't apologize. I just… I think I'm not ready yet."

I smile kindly at her, "It's ok, I understand."

Emily looks at me with an unsure look and I kiss her softly, "Don't worry beautiful, we have all the time we need. No rushing."

She gives me a small smile and a chaste kiss on the lips, leaning her forehead against mine, "Thank you. You are amazing."

"You bet I am!" I say earning a laugh from her. I love to make her laugh.

"Naoms, I wanted to ask you something." She says, while getting off of me, and I immediately miss her against me.

"What is it?"

"I would like to go and see Cook. If it's ok with you?"

I get up, "Of course! I want to see him too. I'm just gonna take a quick shower and get dressed really fast and then we can go."

"Ok, I'll wait here for you." She smiles at me and sits back on the sofa.

"Alright, twenty minutes, tops." I say winking at her and going to my room. Only when I'm taking off my clothes I realize how wet my knickers are. Wow… She really has this enormous pull on me. It was amazing. The moment we just had, it was absolutely and wonderfully fucking fantastic! I don't know how I was able to pull myself together. God…She's amazing.

But I can't get distracted by that right now, I need to get ready and go see Cook. I have to be there for him, he needs all the support he can get at a time like this. Ok Naomi, let's go!

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 **AN: So... Still with me? I hope so. Any opinions leave a review, see you next time :)**


	15. Cook's Life Duty

**AN: Hey again. Thanks for the views and special thanks to KayEff, TeenAgeRiot99 and mynameislizzie for reviewing. Go check out their stories because they're really amazing and well written!**

 **Now, about this chapter, once again it is a smaller one because is only from one character's POV, and one I'm really not used to write about. Neverthless, I decided to risk it, so I hope you'll like it.**

 **Have a good reading!**

* * *

 **COOK'S POV**

I was born in a fucked up family. My dad was never around and so was my mom. You may think this doesn't make sense at all, that it isn't true. Because after all, we live in the same house, she feeds me and gives me the comfort of having a roof above my head. And for a while that was enough. Having all the toys I wanted, getting to eat all kinds of trash food and sweets that I craved for as a child. But as I grew up, I started seeing things differently. I started to feel alone every time she wasn't home and eventually the shit load of privileges I had didn't fulfil my needs. Because I started to see that even though she was there physically, she wasn't really with me. She would have passed out on our couch and I was the one who had to carry her to bed every time and clean up her mess afterwards. Do you get the picture? It should be the other way; it should have been the other way when I was a little lad. Every time I fell asleep on the sofa. Or every time I had a nightmare and she would never come to my bed to hug me and make the bad big monsters go away, even though I called her over and over during night. So you may say that I had everything I wanted and needed. But it's like I say, after a while material things don't matter that much anymore, when the emotional part is lacking.

Due to that, I learned that if I distanced myself from her, it wouldn't hurt so much. Eventually it came to a point where it all became a ritual. Finding her passed out. Taking her to her room. Returning to the living room. Clean up her mess. Maybe (certainly) drink a bit of the rest she has left behind. Going to sleep with no monsters haunting me anymore.

It started to work. I began being able to shut down the voices on my head that screamed " **CARE ABOUT ME!** "

Eventually a new school year started and I went to a new class. I didn't want to be there, I've never liked school. Mostly because I couldn't concentrate and just be quiet. I needed to run around the whole block, I need to listen to music blasting from a stereo and I needed to drink. Anything to keep me occupied, but I decided to give it a chance this time and the fact that some of my colleagues were nice helped. Although I didn't maintain a closed relationship with them, they were enough to just take a piss at the teachers or to be gabbing about all the random girls I had shagged the previous night.

All that changed though. Enter Tony Stonem, most known player in all school. Could sweep any girl off their feet with just a little flash of his baby blues and a wink. And we must not forget to mention his voice. " **Angel** " voice, as all the girls in the choir would call it.

At the time I didn't believe anyone could be that good, to me it sounded like a load of bollocks, so I decided to go and introduce myself to this so called "legend".

And what I can say is, I'm fucking glad I did it! Because from that day on, I found a real friend, a good person who liked me, who cared about me. Suddenly, I didn't feel so alone. I started to look forward for another day at school, because as long as he was gonna be there, it would be alright. Then the time came when we started hanging out at each other's houses, I was shitting my pants because that mean he would probably see my mom in one of hers not so glorious moments. So we enter my house and go into the living room, and of course there lays her Majesty The Royal Fucked Up Queen. I looked at him with a nervous look expecting a bad reaction from him, and all he says is: " **Shit.** " And proceeded to grabbing her ankles and asking me if we should drop her on her bed. All I could do was nod and follow his actions. After that we just sat on the couch and stayed there watching telly and talking shite about everything and everyone, to the point that I even forgot that my mother was passed out from drinking upstairs. It also helped that when the opportunity came for me to go to his house, I realized that his family was as fucked up as mine, and from that day onwards I knew that this fucker wouldn't judge me for the kind of family I had or for my erratic behaviour, so I let down my walls and after a while I started to do it with more people I would get to know. His girlfriend Michelle, his sister Effy and my sweet Cassie. My two most favourite twins, ma blondie Naomi and her loveable idiot of a brother Nathan. These are my people, we are stuck like glue to each other. So I thought: "My life is good. I've finally the family I craved for. I have people I love who love me back. I've never been so happy."

But I should know that all the good things never last for too long, because Cook being Cook could never deserve so much happiness.

I was having a fine day, had been hanging out with Tony, Michelle and some friends of hers. It was going good. Then I got home and noticed I had received a letter, all posh with a golden envelope and a red seal. That could only mean a thing, it had come from the Royal City. So I opened it and read it:

" _Citizen by the name James Cook,_

 _We the Royal Family are writing this letter to inform that it is with great pride that you have been selected by our Legal Office to take part in the War that is to come next year. You will start fulfilling your duty by attending training sessions starting the following month. These are_ _ **mandatory**_ _. If you do not follow this order you will be punished by exile. In only a case of any disabilities (physically or psychologically) will you be released from your duty. If that is the case you shall present yourself at our Legal Office address, written at the back of this letter._

 _If that is not the case, then you must present yourself on the first day of the next month, at the Royal Training Camp, where we will be anxiously waiting for your presence._

 _With our family's best regards,_

 _The Royal Family."_

 _Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck! It can't be… Why?! Fucking why?! This is bullshit! Why me? What kind of fucked up idea is this? War?! Who do hell runs this place?!_

That was my reaction, my instant reaction. When I eventually calmed down and the rage subsided, I only had one thought, " **I need to get trashed** ".

I know it sounds a bit ironic, me complaining about an alcoholic mother and then following the same path. I think that at this moment in my life I understand her more than I've ever have. So to hell with it. What's the matter? After all I am being sent to death anyway, a few drinks won't do much difference.

So the next morning came and I woke up with my head hurting as if I had smashed it into a brick wall, which I probably did (it wouldn't be the first time). But this time it was different. It wasn't only from the drugs and the alcohol. It wasn't only for having a bad night of sleep (or lack of it). No. This time it hurt more, the pain was coming from deep inside of me. From a place where it hadn't appeared in a long time by now. The pain of loneliness was back, the fear of being left out, of being forgotten. I like to consider myself as a brave and strong man, but this War, this duty I now have to fulfil, it reduced me to the little boy inside of me who still screamed, " **WHY ME? WHY ALL THE BAD THINGS COME TO ME?** " And once more I need to fight the big bad monsters, only now the difference is that these monsters have become real in the form of loss, death, violence, fear, injustice and rage.

And they're getting stronger each day that passes and the days for the next month get shorter.

So the deal to cope is drinking and drugs. But these are only keeping me far from my family, and maybe that's the point. Because that way it won't hurt so much when I'm there in the field fighting for myself alone. For that I act like I don't give a fuck, like I don't care about other people's feelings. But I got to say, the other day when I was rude to Naomi and Emily, it hurt like fucking hell. I don't know if I can keep this facade anymore.

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 **AN: That's it, I hope you liked it. Opinions = Reviews , feel free to do it. See you next time :)**


	16. Friend's Support

**AN: Hello beautiful readers, I hope you're still with me. I apologize in advance for having taken so long to write this one, but I had a massive writer's block, so it was pretty hard to get down to work. However I was finally able to finish it today, so here it is. I hope you'll like it.**

 **I also want to say that I hope you all had a good christmas and new year's eve. If you didn't, well I hope the rest of the year will be better for you and that some of the great fanfiction we have in this community will help you get through the tough times :)**

 **Without further delays, enjoy your reading!**

 **P.S. Thanks to all of you who reviewed, viewed, followed and favourited, it's very much appreciated ;)**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 16**

 **EMILY'S POV**

Naomi called Nathan to ask him where they went to meet Cook, and he said they were at his house. After she was ready, we got there in no time.

Big house, nice front garden and well decorated. I must say I am impressed; I didn't take Cook as a wealthy and posh kind of guy. She grabs my hand and leads me to the front door, taking a key out of her pocket and opening it.

"You have a key to his house?" I ask surprised.

"Yeah, he gave me a spare one in case of an emergency." She says holding the door and motioning for me to get in.

"Cook! You there?" She shouts closing the door behind her.

"Yeah, in here!" He shouts back, from the end of the hall I assume.

She follows his voice and I follow her as she goes through a glass door.

Uau, he even has a garden at the back and it is huge. I see Cassie and Nathan seating on some lawn chairs next to Cook. They look happy at seeing Naomi and I.

"Naomi, Emily!" Cook greets us with his trademark grin, "Welcome to my house little red. Come seat with us." He points to an empty chair near him, while Naomi takes the other one.

I sit on the surprisingly comfortable seat, "Thank you Cook." And say a bit shy, leaning back.

"So Cookie, how are you?" Naomi asks with worry evident in her voice.

"I'm great blondie. Never been better!" He says smiling and grabbing a beer but his eyes reflect something other than happiness.

A silence falls between all of us, but only briefly as Cassie speaks, "Cook… We know about the War." He turns his head at her, looking straight into her eyes, "We know you've been called." He doesn't even react at my cousin's words. He just stares at her in silence for a few seconds, and then looks down at the beer between his hands.

"Yeah…" Cook says in a low voice, playing with the label on his bottle.

Nathan touches his friend's shoulder, "Mate, don't worry. It's gonna be ok." He says giving him a small smile.

Cook turns his head to look at him, "Is it though?" He asks with cold eyes, "Do you really think any of this has a chance of turning out _**ok**_?!" He says raising his voice and getting up.

"What world do you fucking live in? This is not some child's play, this is War! Men fighting men for survival!"

Cassie gets up and stands in front of him, "Cook, I'm sure that's not what he meant." She rests her hands on his shoulders, "We're just worried about you. This is hard on us too."

His expression softens as he puts his arms around her, holding her close, "It's fucking unfair Cass. I'm afraid of being left out there alone to die." Cook says trying to hold back his tears.

"We're here for you." Cassie says holding him stronger, "We will be with you until the end. You're not gonna get rid of us soon." She says smiling and he gives her a small chuckle.

A rush of guilt comes through me, seeing Cook like this while my cousin tries to comfort him, it isn't fair. He doesn't deserve any of this.

Tears are starting to form in my eyes and I feel Naomi's hand reaching for mine. I look at her and my chest tightens, she is so sad. Her bright blue eyes are shining, but for all the wrong reasons. I want to hold and kiss her, do everything I can to make the pain go away.

We all stay like this for a while, Nathan looking desperately at his friends, Cassie holding Cook while he cries and Naomi and I holding each other's hands. It was almost as if we moved from our positions; every single one of us would break into pieces.

Eventually Cook's tears were no longer running, and Nathan's desperate expression changed into a peaceful one as he fell asleep along with Naomi and Cassie.

Cook and I were the only ones awake by now, and I feel the need to say something.

"Cook?" I ask him a bit afraid, waiting for him to look at me. He does after a few seconds and I gulp before speaking, "I'm sorry for all of this. I tried to… I tried to change my father's mind, but he wouldn't listen. I'm so sorry…"

He flashed me a small but kind smile, "Ah it's ok Emily, it's not your fault. Parents do shitty things all the time, it's not our job to fix it."

I don't say anything at that, just nod and lean back in my chair, noticing that Cook is looking up at the sky with a faraway look on his face.

I do the same and smile at seeing the shade of dark blue with tiny dots of light spread across it, right above our heads.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Cook asks breaking the silence.

"Yeah… Breath taking."

He sighs, "You know, my grandfather was an astronomer."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He used to say each star had its own person inside."

"What do you mean?" I ask furrowing my eyebrows.

He smiles at the sky, "He said that the majority of them contained a soul inside. Someone who had passed away."

"So every star up represents a person who died?" I ask again.

"Pretty much. But, not all of them." He answers, "Some of them are empty, waiting for someone to fill their space."

"How can you tell them apart?"

He looks at me and smirks, "You don't little red. Not until you get there."

"I see. Where is your grandfather now?"

Cook points with his head to the sky, "You're looking at him. The last thing he said to me was that unlike him, I would be capable of great achievements. I just had to believe in myself."

"He sounds like a good person. You must miss him very much."

"He was, much kinder and supportive than any other human being, no matter how shitty of a person you were. This earth was never fit for him, he always belonged to the sky."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. Now he is where he has always wanted to. Right beside his loved ones and having his most wanted freedom."

"Do you really think he's one of those stars?"

"I like to believe he is." He says turning at me, "Then again he was also a bit of a loony so who knows? Maybe I'll get to find out soon if that's the truth." And smiles.

I stay silent for a few seconds, "I hope it takes a long time for you to get there."

He looks at me shrugging his shoulders, "Why?"

"Because I will miss you. It would break all of our hearts to see you leaving."

"Thanks Emily. That's very sweet of you." Cook says in a soft voice.

I went to say something but Naomi's voice stops me, "Hm… It's freezing out here." She says with a sleepy voice, "I can't believe I fell asleep."

Cook and I can't help but laugh at her whiny voice and she looks at us with raised eyebrows, "Instead of laughing you could always bring me a blanket. It won't be so funny when I'm dying of hypothermia."

"Ahah alright blondie, I'll get you a blanket but you should come inside."

Naomi and I get up, "Should I wake them up?" I ask pointing to Cassie and Nathan.

"Nan… Leave them be. They usually aren't bothered by the cold." Naomi says putting her arm around my waist and leading me inside.

"Oh that's just you then?" I ask and cup her face with my hands, "Jesus, you are cold!" I retreat my hands immediately.

"That's Naomi. She really can't endure cold temperatures very well." Cook says putting a fluffy blanket around her, "There, all better." He says patting her on the head.

I can't help but laugh at how he treats her like a little sister, it's rather cute.

"What are you laughing at?" She asks me playfully pouting.

"It's funny the way you are with each other. Like brother and sister."

They share a smirk between them, "Yeah that's me and blondie for you. She's my sister from another mother." Naomi nods in agreement.

"Well ladies, feel free to use the house however you want it."

"Aren't we bothering? I mean it's late, we should go back to yours." I ask Naomi.

"No, no! Stay, make yourselves at home. There's plenty of room for all of us. You can sleep upstairs if you'd like."

"Yeah Ems, don't worry. This is practically my house by now." Naomi says.

"Exactly!" Cook says grinning at us.

"Ok, fine by me then." I smile at them.

"Let's go upstairs then, that way you can warm me up." Naomi says raising her eyebrows and smirking at me.

"Naoms!" I say giving her a nervous look and glancing at Cook.

She looks at him and then at me, "Ah, don't worry! Cook knows me well, it's no news to him that I like you."

"Yep. No news at all. Also it's kinda written all over your face, so… Easy peasy!"

Naomi punches him playfully on the shoulder, "Yeah we get the picture. C'mon Em."

She puts her arm around my waist again and we turn to leave but Cook stops us.

"Wait, before you go and do your _"business"_ , I wanted to apologize about how I behaved the other day at the pub."

"It's ok Cookie, no stress. We get it." Naomi smiles at him.

"Right, anyway, I just wanted you to know that. I was upset, I took it out on you two and I'm sorry for that."

I step closer to him and give him a peck on the cheek, leaving him smiling like a little child.

"Thank you. Apology accepted." I say and turn to Naomi again, leaving to the bedroom upstairs.

"Have a good night my brother from another mother." Naomi shouts from the stairs, making us both laugh.

"Ahm… Which room is it Naoms? He has like one hundred of them here!" I say once we got up the stairs.

"Ahah, yeah I know it can be confusing at the first time here, but eventually you'll get used to it." She looks at me, "Follow me Madame, it's right ahead and then we turn to the left."

We stop in front of a door that reads "Blondie's". I snort at that, "Do you really have your own room all to yourself?"

Naomi gives me a huge grin, "You bet I do. Cookie's always taken good care of his people, I'm one of the privileged ones." She says and opens the door to let me in.

I'm once again amazed by the decoration of his house, while mine has a more antique style, his is super modern and I'm beginning to like it very much. For instance, this room has a couch with a flat screen TV in front and a DVD player under it. Next to it there's a stereo with huge speakers and a collection of movies, I think? And don't even get me started on the bed. A large couple's bed that could fit at least three or four people, tops.

"I guess you like it then?" Naomi asks me chuckling at my open mouth.

"Naoms, this IS amazing!" I walk around the room a bit more, checking out other details and furniture, "Uau… I'd never thought…"

"That an Outsider could have a house as magnificent as yours?"

"What? No…" I look at her blank expression, "I meant I'd never thought Cook could have such good taste."

Her face breaks into a cute smile, "I was just messing with you." She says pulling me closer to her. I stumble a bit, not expecting her sudden pull on me but she holds me by my waist.

I bet my face is now as red as the wine my father praises so much almost every meal, but I rather not think of my father right at _**this**_ moment.

"You're looking a little flushed, are you ok?" Naomi asks me checking my forehead with her hand, "Hm, it seems good. I guess it's just because of me then." She grins at me cockily.

I punch her lightly on the arm, "Ah ah, very funny." She holds her arm in fake hurting, "Auch! I don't wanna lose my arm just yet Miss Emily."

I can't help but give a chuckle at her playful attitude and she stares at me with a smile I can't quite describe, "What? Is there something on my face?"

She takes a loose strand of my hair and tucks it behind my ear, "Do you know how amazingly addictive your laugh is?"

I scoff at her feeling embarrassed, Yeah, right…" I say looking away.

"You don't believe me?" Naomi says following my gaze trying to make me look at her again. I do, eventually, "Emily Woolf Fitch, you better believe me." She says in a mocking stern voice, earning a laugh from me.

"See! Right there, that laugh, you don't even know how beautiful you sound."

I look straight into her eyes, "I guess that makes two of us then." And now it's her time to blush.

"Ah, is that a blush I see Naomi Nightingale Campbell?" I ask mimicking her use of my full name.

"That was a low blow Em." She says holding me closer and turning me around, making us both fall into her bed. She takes the advantage of being on top to tickle me. I try to stop her but she won't quit.

"Ah, ok ok! I surrender!" I say between giggles and she eventually stops.

I'm left panting under her while she has me strained by the wrists, trying to catch her breath as well. Her blue eyes are now a shade darker and I feel stuck, almost like they're holding me captive in their orbs.

"Naoms…" I gulp hard at her stare, not sure what to do. Not sure what I _**want**_ to do.

She seems to suddenly awake from some deep thoughts, as if she had just been lost in space and retreats her hold on my wrists, "Yeah, sorry. I was just…"

"It's ok." I smile at her and caress her cheek with my hand and she smiles back, moving away from on top of me and laying on her back next to me. I turn my head to look at her and kiss her long nose as she closes her eyes.

"Hm… I'm tired." She says turning on her side and moving closer to me, resting her head on the crook of my neck.

"Really? You just woke up from sleeping in Cook's back garden." I state.

"Yeah… I know, but this week has been really tiresome." She sighs making my whole body shiver at feeling her hot breathing on my skin.

"Are you cold?" Naomi asks sensing my shivering, pulling her head up to look at me.

"No, no. But I agree with you, it has been a rather tiring week."

"We should get some sleep then, ok?" She asks me, getting up to move to another side of the bed while I take the other.

"Oh wait, silly me." She says rolling her eyes, "You can take your clothes off and put on something more comfortable. I always have some spare clothes in there." Naomi says pointing to a drawer in front of the bed.

"Okay, thanks." I say a bit shyly. I'm still not very used to take my clothes off in front of her. Well in front of anyone to be honest, although with her is different. Her opinion matters the most, I don't really want her to see my imperfections.

"All done!" She says making me turn around to see she already has a t-shirt on and some girl boxers. I stand gaping at her looking like that in front of me.

"Like what you see?" She asks seductively and steps closer to me, "You might wanna close your mouth babe." Holding my chin gently to close my mouth, and giving me a small peck on the lips. She is getting too damn irresistible, I want more. I need to have more.

I grab her by the collar of her shirt and kiss her more fiercely, and more hungrily as I feel her kissing me back. My hands are on her neck and hers are on my waist pulling me closer to her, and we end up again on the bed; only this time I'm the one on top but it doesn't last long as she turns me over on my back, having me under her.

"Emily, I really like being with you like this, a _**lot,**_ trust me when I say it."

"But?" I ask with a hoarse and timid voice.

"But I don't wanna rush this. I don't you to have some crappy sexual experience in my mate's house just because we were horny and in a hurry. I want to treat you like a princess, like the beautiful person you are."

"Naoms…"

She shushes me by putting her fingertip on my lips, "Let me finish, please?"

I nod slowly and she brushes her lips lightly against mine, "I need to show you how special you are to me, and that's not gonna happen tonight in this room ok?"

"I understand…" I try not to show the hint of sadness that rushed through me but it's useless because Naomi can see right through me.

She smiles down at me softly and traces my eyebrow with her thumb, "I don't want to make you sad baby." Naomi whispers kissing me slowly, "I want you to feel special Em, because at this moment you're one of the most precious people I have in my life. So please let me make this right with you."

This time it sounded more like a plead from her and it made me feel like I really matter something greater to her. If that means I'll have to wait, then I'll gladly will. Because not only it has to feel special to me, I also want her to feel special. She deserves it as much as I do.

"Alright Naoms." I smile and kiss her, feeling the usual rush of emotions flowing through me every time we touch. She steps back to look at me, "Great! Now that's settled, I want to take you out on a date."

I look at her amazed, "Oh, really?" I ask uncertain.

"Yes really!" She laughs, "Like I said I want you to feel like a princess. So I will pick you up at your castle and then take you into an unforgettable night." She stops to think, "Well at least I hope it will be."

I pull her to my side and stare at her eyes for a while, in wonder, biting my lip, "Sounds good to me." I say but instantly remember something, "Wait, you can't come by my house."

Naomi expression falls into a frown and I have the need to kiss her chastely on the lips, "You know what I mean babe, it will be dangerous if my father sees you there." I say explaining my reasons.

She sighs deeply, "You're right. Can I wait on the street then?" She asks hopefully.

"Of course you can." Now it's my time to sigh, "I'm sorry it has to be like that. I hate seeing you waiting outside like a stray dog."

"Yeah well, it's for a good cause, so I don't mind being a dog once or twice. I can even bark if you'd like, you know, to sound more convincing."

I burst into a fit of giggles and so does she, holding me closer when the laughter subsides.

After a few minutes she has fallen asleep and I take the opportunity to get up and change into a more comfortable attire. I found a large t-shirt with a pig on a drawer, it's cute and comfy so this shall suffice enough. Also I don't wanna waste any more time looking for clothes to sleep on while I have sleeping beauty waiting for me.

I get back on the bed and pull the bedsheets over us, with Naomi rapidly cuddling me and resting her head on my chest, while her arms surround my waist. I trail my fingers through her gorgeous blonde hair, its silkiness fascinating me. She's addictive, she's so addictive, I can't imagine my life without her. Until now I had considered myself a good person, a happy person with people around me who love me and whom I love back. But since she entered my life, I don't know, I just haven't been feeling like my old-self anymore. I'm happier, and stronger. I started to feel passionate about something, a thing I had never really felt before. I hope this feeling never goes away, because with all that's going on lately, I think it's one of the few things that keeps me going forward.

* * *

 **AN: So there you have it. I don't know when I'll be posting the next chapter, but I will try not to take too long. Thanks for reading and as always your reviews are most welcomed :)**


	17. Bitter Past

**AN: Hello lovely readers! I hope you're all well. So, here's a new chapter and I'm sorry I took so long to publish it but it's been really hard to write and even more to LIKE what I end up writing. Either way I decided to give it a go and post it, I hope you'll like it, if that's not the feel free to leave a honest review. After all I can only grow as a writer with the opinion of my readers.**

 **As always I thank you all who view, review, follow and favourite my beloved piece of work. It's extremely important to have you with me.**

 **Now that's all settled, enjoy your reading :)**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 17**

 **NAOMI'S POV**

I wake up early in the morning, it's still dark outside. I look to my right and see my red headed beauty sleeping, her face one of peacefulness. I smile at seeing her like this, although it pains me not being able to maintain her in this state. Because once she wakes up, she has to return to the awful reality I have put her in. If I had never appeared in her life she wouldn't be suffering like this, because she would have never met any of us, she wouldn't have to worry about any of this.

I get up trying to make as less noise as I can and walk into the bathroom. My face is heavy with sleep and I'm practically dragging myself around the room. I glance at Emily and notice the sheets are not covering her frame anymore, so I reach out and cover her again, gently running my fingers through her soft skin.

She frowns a bit and moans something incomprehensible, probably about what she's dreaming. I sigh and step away, going out of the room into the hallway.

I make my way to another door and knock carefully, opening it and seeing light coming from the inside.

"Hey there." I say to Cook, as I walk into his room sitting beside him on the sofa.

"You woke up early blondie." He says smiling, watching some of those crappy programs which are only on at this time.

"So did you." I shrug at him and yawn, "God, it's too fricking early."

"You're telling me." He looks at me, "I didn't even fall asleep."

I frown at hearing that, "You should rest Cookie, you're going through a lot of stress, your body's not gonna take it."

"I know that." He sighs, "But every time I try to, all my thoughts start to mix inside my head keeping me from falling asleep."

"I understand." I reach for his hand, holding it in mine and he smiles softly at me.

"How are things between you and red?" Cook asks me.

"Red?" I look at him confused, "Oh, you mean Emily?"

"Yeah, you seem to be getting quite close."

"Yes, she's amazing." I advert my gaze from his, "More than I deserve actually." I add almost whispering.

"What do you mean?" He asks looking straight at me, "You're one of the best people I know!"

"That's not the point." I sigh deeply, "I'm afraid I might be called to duty as well."

"No, no shit. That can't happen…" Cook says shaking his head.

"What if it does? I mean, it's perfectly possible. You know I am at the right age and I've already perfected my gift very well!" I say stressing out.

"Calm down, we don't know that yet alright?" He says resting his hands on my shoulders, "We'll just wait and see if you receive any letter. If that does happen, we'll deal with it then."

"It would break Emily's heart. I can't do that to her." My voice is breaking at this point, "It would be best if I hadn't entered her life at all."

"Naomi, just listen to me." He says with a straight face, "I don't know Emily very well yet, but I can see the way she looks at you, like you're made of pure gold."

I snort at him, "Only you to make me laugh Cook. It shows that much eh?"

He nods with a smug look, "It's written all over her face." He says smirking, "And in yours too."

"I bet it is." I smile at the mention of it, "I'm pretty much head over heels for her."

"I'm happy for you. You just focus on that and forget about the rest alright?"

"Ok Cookie, I'll try to." I say and rest my head on his shoulder, "I missed being with you like this."

"You just can't resist the Cookie Monster charms." He says grinning and I slap him lightly on the leg, making him laugh.

We stay like this for a moment, watching some rerun of "The Price is Right". I will never understand why they show these kind of programs at this damn hour. As if someone would get up on purpose just to watch it.

"Naomi, I've been thinking about something." He says breaking the silence between us.

"Oh, do tell." I say without taking my eyes from the telly.

"I think we should give a concert."

I move my head from his shoulder and look at him surprised, "You're serious? With all that's going on, do you think it's a good idea?"

Cook looks at me with a determined look, "That's exactly my point. We need something to keep our minds off shitty things."

I ponder about it for a couple of seconds, "Well it does make sense."

"Then let's do it! Me, you and Nathan, we haven't done it for a while now."

I nod in agreement, "Alright, find us a place and it's settled."

"Consider it done blondie." He grins at me.

Suddenly a lightbulb goes on in my head, "I just had the best idea ever." I say excitedly to Cook.

"Yeah?"

"I want to take Emily on a date and I think I can make the concert as being part of it."

"That's brilliant! I'm glad that you don't take out after your hair." He says with a provoking smile.

I give him a fake smile, "I'm gonna let that one slip, but only because you had an awesome idea."

"Alright! So, how are you gonna do it?" Cook asks me with enthusiasm.

"I don't know…" I think for a moment, "She likes to be outdoors, surrounded by nature."

"Ok so that's a hint. What else?"

"Ah! I got it, fireworks!" I say grinning, "While we have dinner."

"How the hell are you gonna be able to do that?"

"I was thinking that maybe you could give me a hand? Talk with a guy who might know another guy who can get me fireworks?" I ask him with my best puppy eyes.

"Ah alright Naomikins, I'll see what I can go." He says grinning at me.

"Thanks Cookie. Well I should be going, to check on Emily."

"Yeah I agree. You shouldn't let that fine bird alone in bed."

"Hey watch it!" I say playfully and turn to leave.

* * *

Once I reach my room I open the door slowly and get in, making my way to my side of the bed.

"Hey…" I hear the husky voice I love so much and smile at her sleepy face.

"Hi…" I say laying down, "I'm sorry I woke you up." And trace her cute little nose with my fingertip.

"Hm… You didn't." She says twitching it and closing her eyes, sighing.

I kiss her forehead and she opens her eyes, "Where did you go?" She asks me with her chocolate orbs full of curiosity.

"I was in Cook's room and we stayed there talking for a while." I smile and gently run my fingers through her hair, "Have you always had red hair?"

"No, it began to change colours as I got older. My parents told me it was natural in my family, it seems it's related with my gift."

I sigh resting my palm on her cheek, and bite my lip before asking, "Do you have any idea of what it is?"

"I'm not sure…" Emily purses her lips thinking and I can't help but smile at how cute she looks.

"A while ago my father asked me the same thing, and at the time I only told him that I was starting to feel stronger, physically."

"That's a start. But there's more to it?"

She nods, "That same day I told Cassie that besides the increased strength, I also had been able to sort of communicate with a bird."

I am taken aback for a moment, "A bird?!"

"Yeah…" She blushes, "I knew it was just my imagination."

"No, no!" I smile and rest my hand on her arm, "I just wasn't expecting it, that's all."

"Ok so I have that one, although I'm _**still**_ not convinced about it, especially due to the fact that it hasn't happened lately."

"Which means you only realized the enhanced strength then?"

"Yes and I think it showed last time I went home."

"When you went and talked to your father about the War?"

She nods, "Remember the slap he gave me?"

I touch her cheek lightly, "How could I ever forget…"

Emily gives me a small smile and holds my hand in hers, "After he did it, I tried to attack him."

I look at her eyes wide-open, "You did?"

She nods, "I felt a rage inside of me like I had never felt before. All I saw was red and all I wanted was to hit him."

"So you lunged at him?"

"Yes, but he stopped me obviously. He's much stronger than I am and ended up throwing me on the floor."

"He did what?!" I say raising my voice and sitting up against the bed frame.

"Calm down Naoms! You're gonna wake up the whole neighbourhood."

"Sorry." I sigh, "It's just that it pains me not having been there to protect you."

"I'm perfectly capable of defending myself." She says frowning.

"I'm not saying you're not! I'm just saying I wanted to be there."

Emily looks at me with a sad face without saying any more words. The room suddenly filled with a sombre mood, and she ends up looking away from me.

"Em... I didn't mean to snap at you." I say, my voice full of regret, "I just… I feel so impotent when it comes to protect you."

"Why?" She asks, sitting next to me and looking straight into my eyes, "Why do you care so much?"

"How could I not? You're an amazing person." I look at her like it was the most obvious thing, "It had been so long since I had a special connection with another person, but when you appeared in my life that suddenly changed." She's biting her lip and I take it as a sign to go on.

"Now, all I want is to spend time with you and protect you from all that is wrong in this World."

Emily's looking down and I don't know what else I can say, I'm starting to give up but she speaks, "Besides Cassie, I've… I've never had anyone feeling that way about me." She says in a low voice, lifting her head again to look at me, "And I'm the same towards you. I too want to spend every day with you."

I smile at her like a Cheshire cat, "You do?"

She grabs the back of my neck and pulls me into her lips, kissing me slowly, "Does this prove it?" She asks cheekily when we pull apart.

Now it's my turn to kiss her, but more fervently, "Yes." I stop to catch my breath and smile against her lips.

She brushes her nose against mine and smiles, "Good." Emily says and rests her head on my shoulder.

I hold her hand in mine, tracing small circles on her smooth skin with my thumb and we stay comfortable in silence.

"Naomi?"

"Yeah?" I ask her, stopping my movements.

She goes quiet and I can tell she's pondering about saying something.

"Have you ever been with anyone before?" The question catches me by surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"In terms of intimacy?" She says only above a whisper.

"Oh, sexually?" She nods against my shoulder and I answer her "Yes, I have."

At hearing my answer she lifts her head of my shoulder, "Seriously?"

"Yes." I say and see a hint of sadness in her eyes, "Is that a problem?"

"No, I just never thought about it. I know you're more experienced than me, at least you seem to be."

"Em that doesn't matter anymore. It was a long time ago."

"Were they important to you?"

I breathe in and out slowly, I think I'm not gonna like where this is going, "She was, yes."

"It was also a girl?" She asks surprised and I shrug my shoulders, "What's the news Emily? I think it's pretty obvious."

"To you it may be nothing new, but it is to me. I never thought two people of the same gender could be together."

"Then what have we been doing until now?" I ask a bit annoyed.

"I didn't mean to upset you Naoms." I cringe at her use of a nickname, suddenly it doesn't sound so good.

"I'm just trying to get my head around this. It's not easy when you've been raised to believe that it's something wrong and ugly." She says trying to defend herself.

I sigh and soften my voice, "I can understand that, but try to see it from my side. I had to build up a defence against those type of arguments, so I end up easily snapping anytime I have to deal with it that type of mentality." She looks at me sadly but I go on, "And you're making it extremely hard, due to the fact that you're the person I am with right now."

"I'm trying to change ok? Otherwise why would I be here with you?"

"I don't know, to defy your father?" I say bitterly.

"My father?! He doesn't even know I'm here with you."

"Well he will eventually find out won't he?"

Emily sighs and gets up from the bed, "It's too early for this talk. I just woke up I don't wanna fight with you." She says with a hoarse voice and goes into the bathroom, closing the door on me.

"Fuck's sake Naomi…" I mutter to myself and go to the door, "Emily?" I ask and knock twice, not receiving any answer.

I sigh deeply, "I'm sorry Em… I didn't mean to be harsh on you."

"Then why did you?" I hear her muffled voice from inside, "I've already got enough of that with my dad, but thank you." She says bitterly.

"Will you open the door, please? Let me explain?" I plead to her and hear her sigh on the other end, opening the door.

"Fine, be my guest." She says and steps into the room, sitting on the bed, and I stand in front of her.

I bite my lip nervously, trying to find the right words, "It's hard for me to talk about this. I mean, about the person I was with before."

She looks down at her feet, "Go on, I'm listening."

I step closer and sit on the ground in front of her, searching for her eyes, "My relationship with her wasn't easy. Throughout the entirety of it we lived in fear." She's looking at me now with a frown on her beautiful face.

"Being with a girl you know? People looked down at us, specially her family. They didn't approve of us as a couple, and they saw me as someone who had turned their daughter into a monstrosity." My voice is shaky as I try to hold back my tears.

Emily extends her hand for me to take, and I hold on to her without even thinking twice, giving her a small smile.

She sits down in front of me and takes both my hands in hers and I close my eyes at feeling their warmth, "I'm sorry to hear that. What happened then?"

I look her directly in the eyes, the ones I've come to love so much, "She disappeared."

She looks at me puzzled, "Disappeared? I don't understand."

I let out a deep breath, "One day she was there, the next she wasn't. I called and she didn't answer, I went to her house and they weren't there anymore."

After saying that I advert my gaze from hers, "I tried to reach her a few more times after, I went to search for her around her place and surroundings. But it was all in vain, it was as if she and her family were never part of my life. She was gone and there was nothing I could do to change that. I decided to stop trying, and eventually my feelings for her subsided and my pain went away."

"Naomi, I'm so sorry." Emily says and hugs me tightly, and I hold on to her waist strongly, "I had no idea." She says looking at me sadly.

I smile and take a lock of her hair, tucking it behind her small ear, "It's ok beautiful, you had no way to know."

She takes my hand and links our fingers together, "Do you still think of her?"

I sigh and bite my lip, "I do, but only as a distant memory. I no longer wish for her to show up on my life at any time." And shrug my shoulders, "Now I have you and only want _**you**_ _,_ that's all that matters to me."

Emily grins at me like a little child on a candy store and I laugh at seeing her happy like this.

"Why are you laughing at me?" She asks pouting. Like I said, an authentic child.

"Because I like it when you smile at me like that. It's great to see you happy."

"Aww, you're such a big softy." Emily says teasing me and I poke her on her side, "Shut up!"

We both laugh while playing and teasing each other, and as we begin to calm down I'm not able to look away from her. Her gaze is burning like a flame which I don't want to lose sight.

"Me and the guys are gonna give another concert." I blurt out and earn a surprised look from her.

"Really? That's awesome! When?" She asks smiling with enthusiasm.

"Hm… That I don't know yet. I still have to talk with Nathan and I also have to wait for Cook to find us a place."

"So in a million years from now?" Emily asks with a playful tone.

"Well I sure hope not, I don't want our date to take that long to happen."

"Our date eh?" She's smirking at me now, raising her eyebrows.

I bite my lip embarrassed, "Yeah… You were not supposed to know that."

"Why?" She looks at me with a puzzled look and I feel a blush creeping at my face, "Because I wanted it to be a surprise."

"It still is, I don't know what's going to happen."

"You've got a point there." I ponder for a couple of seconds, "Alright, no problem. That's just a small part of it."

"There's gonna be more then?" She asks with shiny eyes and I give a small chuckle, "Of course! What kind of romantic do you take me for?"

"If I had to guess, one of the cheesiest ones that exist."

I roll my eyes and smirk at her, "Just like you fancy them, lucky me."

She smirks back and looks at me seductively, "Lucky you, but I can always show you how much."

After that remark she cups my face and leans in to touch my lips with her soft ones, and my grip on her waist becomes stronger. She deepens it by opening her mouth and I gladly grant her entrance, letting our tongues dance together igniting a fire within my core and I feel myself getting wetter every minute that passes.

Before it becomes too hard to contain ourselves, we part for some air and stay with our foreheads leaned into each other.

For her I can hold back and wait for the right time, because after all, Emily is the right person.

* * *

 **AN: And that's it. You already know the drill, opinions=reviews :)**


	18. Girlfriends

**AN: Hello? Is someone still there? I hope so and I'm really sorry I haven't been updating recently, but I had a huge and nasty writer's block. Fortunately I was FINALLY able to write a decent piece of a chapter (at least I think I did), and I'm starting to feel in touch with this story again.**

 **I want to thank you all beautiful and lovely people for continuing to review, follow and favourite my work. You're truly amazing!**

 **A special shout out to "TeenAgeRiot99" and "mynameislizzie", for always being here for me. I adore you girls, and please go check out their stories, all of them!**

 **I also want to thank you "BelinhaM" for being by my side this last couple of months and for putting up with me and my panicking :)**

 **Now that all this is settled, please enjoy your reading!**

 **Disclamer: SKINS UK is not mine, but any mistakes there is, are all mine.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 18**

"Emily…" Naomi speaks in a low voice, "Baby, wake up." She says to the red head facing her, making the girl moan.

"Hm… five more minutes please." Emily says in a sleepy tone, rolling to her side.

Naomi cuddles her from behind and kisses the back of her neck softly, "Come on sleeping beauty, it's almost noon."

The petite girl sighs, "Fine…" She says in a childish way, "But only if you give me one more kiss."

The blonde smiles to herself, pressing her lips again into the girl's smooth skin, making her turn away again to face her.

"I think I need one more." Emily whispers, close to Naomi's lips and looking her in the eyes.

"Well that can be arranged…" The blonde whispers back, kissing her forehead and leaning back to look at her.

She laughs due to the red head's annoyed expression, "That's all?" She asks pouting, making it very hard for Naomi to resist her.

"Needy." She says smirking to Emily, "But I'll put you out of your misery." And kisses the tip of her nose, then her cheek and finally her lips, carefully at first but deepening it at the other girl's first response, feeling dizzy even though they're laying down in bed.

They kiss for a couple of seconds, only parting away to catch their breaths.

"Satisfied?" Naomi asks raising her eyebrows and making Emily laugh, "Yes, very much indeed." She answers the blonde smirking.

"Good! Now get that lazy arse of yours up before you dig a hole on this bed."

"Ah!" Emily says shocked, "How dare you?" She asks smirking, turning the blonde on her back and placing herself on top of her.

"Oh don't look so offended! It is also a superb arse." Naomi says grabbing it with her both hands, making the girl let out a small squeak, "Oi! Careful with those hands." Emily warns her with a grin on her face.

"Or what?" Naomi asks teasing the red head, "You're gonna stop kissing me?"

Emily shrugs her shoulders, "Maybe." She answers smirking, "What are you going to do about that?"

A smug smile creeps on her face as she holds Emily's waist, turning them around so she's now the one on top, "I think this will suffice." She says chuckling at the small gasp leaving Emily's lips, "You cheeky idiot!" The red head says giggling, placing a loose strand of blonde hair behind Naomi's ear.

Suddenly the taller girl's face goes into a serious one and she's biting her lip, pondering her next words.

Emily furrows her eyebrows in confusion, "Naoms, is something bothering you?" She asks caressing Naomi's cheek with her thumb, "You can tell me."

"Will you be my girlfriend?" The blonde blurts out, leaving Emily staring at her with eyes wide-open.

Silence falls between them for a couple of seconds and they stay looking at each other.

"Say something…" Naomi pleads in a low voice, "Anything, please?"

Emily gulps and nods, before saying in a raspy voice, "Yes…" She kisses Naomi's lips, "I thought you'd never ask." She says smiling and kissing her again, harder.

Naomi laughs softly when they leave each other's mouths, "I couldn't take it anymore." She says looking at the red head in awe, "It didn't feel right."

"I know Naoms, I know." Emily says clinging tightly to her, so to express what she can't say in words.

Naomi holds on to her, kissing the top of her head, "You're beautiful. You are _**my**_ beautiful girlfriend." She says chuckling happily, smiling widely at Emily.

"And you're mine." Emily says cupping her face, "Girlfriend." She says with a smile up to her ears.

They share another kiss, but this one is different. It shows things that they have been wanting to say but couldn't. Now it's said and it feels wonderful, it makes them stronger, happier.

Naomi settles herself next to Emily, burying her head on the girl's shoulder.

"Hm… That feels good." The red head says, "Why did you wake me up though?"

The blonde suddenly shots her head up, "Ah yes!" She says moving a bit away from Emily to look better at her, "I wanted to tell you something. I think you should go back home."

Emily flashes her a look of confusion, "What?" She asks raising her voice, "Why? Why would I do that?"

"Em calm down…" Naomi tries to explain, but the girl won't let her, "No! Do you want me to go?" She asks now with a hint of sadness on her eyes.

"Of course not silly!" She says shaking her head, "I just don't want you to be apart from your family so long. Most importantly, you've been skipping school for too many days already."

Emily lets out a deep sigh, "Argh fine, I guess you do have a point."

"Your education is important, I don't want to be the reason you're failing at it."

The red head frowns at her, "Don't say that, it has nothing to do with you." She says reaching the blonde's arm and tracing her fingers slowly up and down on it, "You know very well what, or better yet, _**whom**_ , the problem is."

Naomi looks sadly at her, "Yes, but even so, please get back with your studies." She insists, holding the back of Emily's neck and pulling her into a kiss, "I'll be there with you, I promise."

Emily nods, resting her forehead against Naomi's, "I'm afraid that my father will lock me at home if I return." She says in a frail voice, looking at her girlfriend with fear in her eyes.

"I hate to see you like this baby…" Naomi says, her voice breaking a bit, "I will never let that happen. I would even break through a wall if I had to, if it meant I could rescue you." She says now more firmly, resting her hand on Emily's cheek and giving her a chaste kiss on the lips.

The red head chuckles lightly, "You are my knight in shinny armour." She says smiling happily, "Always Emily, don't ever forget that." Naomi complements, kissing her more deeply.

They both stop when they hear a rumbly sound, and Naomi laughs resting her hand on Emily's tummy, "I did find it strange that your stomach hadn't yet been asking for food." She says earning a playful slap on her arm from the red head, "Shut up!" Emily answers smirking, "Just go get me my food." She demands playfully, earning a pair of raised eyebrows from Naomi.

"Pretty please?" She asks in her best childlike voice and pouting, making the blonde let out an exasperated sigh, "Fine!" Naomi says rolling her eyes at her, "But you have to come down with me." She says getting out of bed and extending her hands for Emily to hold, pulling her up into her and holding her by the waist, while the smaller girl grabs onto her shoulders to balance herself.

Suddenly there's a knock on the door, "Hey girls! You there?" They hear Cassie's voice asking, "We're having breakfast, well, more like brunch now. Anyway, care to join us?"

"Yes, we'll be right there!" Naomi answers, making her way to the door, "I guess your cooking skills will have to wait." Emily says behind her and Naomi replies, "Shame… You would love my special burnt toasts!" Earning a small laugh from her girlfriend.

* * *

"So how did you sleep hun?" Cassie asks Emily with her usual bright smile.

"I slept well, and you?" Emily asks, seemingly more interested about the eggs on her plate than above all else.

"It was fine…" Cassie begins to say, but Nathan cuts her, "Certainly not as good as you both." He sneers, raising his eyebrows provokingly, "After all, no one else slept all lovey-dovey like you girls."

Emily lifts her head up quickly and looks straight at Naomi, with panic in her wide brown eyes.

"Nathan just shut up. Jealousy never looked good on you." Naomi says without a stutter, giving Emily a cocky smirk earning a proud smile from her.

"Good one blondie!" Cooks says laughing, and then turns to his friend, "Mate, you should have known better."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" Nathan mutters, rolling his eyes.

They stay in silence for a couple of minutes, until Emily decides to speak, "So Cook, Naomi told me you're going to give another concert?"

"Ah sharing the good news already I see!" He answers grinning.

"Wait, what?" Nathan asks confused, "Why wasn't I told about this?"

"Relax!" Naomi says rolling her eyes, "Me and Cook only decided this yesterday."

"Yeah mate! We're gonna tell you, but it looks like Red couldn't keep her enthusiasm." Cook says smirking at a blushing Emily.

Naomi chuckles, "Red?! Congrats babe, you're now part of Cookie's family." She says with a proud and large smile.

"Yes, that's beautiful," Nathan says with sarcasm, "Now tell me about this concert. Where and when?"

Cook sighs, "Well that's still being arranged, but I think it will be possible for us to do it tonight." He ends with a toothy grin.

Naomi's face goes blank, "Tonight?!" She asks surprised, "That's too early!" She says panicking, "We have to practice, and get things ready! Talk to the bar, set the stage, get the instruments!"

"Naoms, calm down." Cassie says softly, "That won't be a problem. You guys are always amazing! I'm sure you're gonna be able to do it!" She says with an encouraging and sincere smile.

Emily extends her hand and holds Naomi' one, squeezing it gently, "I agree with Cassie. The night I saw you all perform was mind-blowing."

"Yeah they're right! Together we can do it." Nathan says with confidence, "What do you say little sis?"

Naomi smiles widely and says, "Let's do it! The _ **Monsters**_ are back!" She shouts, and they all laugh together.

* * *

 **AN: Well this is it! I'm already writing the next chapter, and I'll try to publish it this week (I'm confident I'll be able to). I hope you liked this one, but it would be really good if you could let me know! Will meet next time ;)**


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